Dear Editor:

I am deeply disappointed with some members of the SIUC community, specifically in their outcry against the Pulliam pool renovations.

While I understand the pool is a special place for many students and faculty, I have to point out how deserving the students of the School of Art and Design are when it comes to needing new space. As a department, we are spread throughout several buildings, often making networking difficult, time-consuming or altogether nonexistent. Art History is housed in the Allyn Building, along with our printmaking facilities and a few rooms in which 2D studios take place. It is also one of the oldest buildings on campus.

The Glove Factory is off campus, located behind Stix, and is home to the Sculpture department, along more classroom space and several professors’ and students’ studios. I can assure you this building could use many repairs, not limited to a leaky roof that has been known to damage art and severely shorten available work time. Pulliam is currently the base of the ceramics, glass and metals studios; these are some of our most prestigious and renowned programs at SIUC.

Our Industrial Design department (which would be moving into the renovated Pulliam space) has been relegated to the Blue Barracks: the “temporary” metal buildings near the dorms that were supposed to be a short-term solution while a new building for Industrial Design was built. That was more than a decade ago.

It should also be mentioned that a team of designers recently took home the Fusion Exhibition Bragging Rights Cup, which included beating a team from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

I am aware that losing the pool is a sad moment for many members of our community, but it is a long overdue change needed for a deserving department filled with award-winning, highly talented individuals. Pulliam is already home to some of our most gifted members, and it is an apt place to house a group of students whose needs have been overlooked for far too long.

Kat Mannel

senior from Beaver Dam, Wis., studying art