By The Gatepost Editorial Board
The new Hemenway laboratories are a significant and necessary investment to Framingham State. The contemporary building is a beautiful addition, and the most signi4cant building on campus. The editors of The Gatepost commend the FSU administration on this great accomplishment, and for recognizing that the STEM departments were in desperate need of a makeover.
Now that FSU has more than proven its love for STEM with a whopping $84 million present, we at The Gatepost believe it’s time for the humanity and social science departments to receive some affection.
In a recent interview, Executive Vice President Dale Hamel said STEM enrollment has grown to more than double the rate of the general enrollment. That might be healthy for a time, but if that trajectory continues it will have a negative impact on the community.
Prospective students visiting different colleges want to see their desired majors flourishing on campus, not being neglected. Framingham State can only accept a certain amount of students, and a disproportionate growth in STEM enrollment could very well lead to the shrinking of the humanity and social science majors.
One of the most beneficial aspects of attending a university is the diverse personalities and interests of the student population. Less humanity and social science majors means less contributions to The Onyx, The Zine, Journal of Critical Thinking and The Gatepost.
In an interview with The Gatepost, President Cevallos said the administration is “not abandoning” the other majors and that he hopes the new science center will have a “positive impact on every single student that goes through the University.” Unfortunately, it’s difficult to see this positive impact when walking into May Hall.
We at The Gatepost agree with Cevallos when he said, “Every building has a life cycle.” Indeed, and it appears May Hall, which hosts predominantly humanity and social science classes, is on its deathbed.
Though The Gatepost editorial staff would not go so far as to describe May Hall as dilapidated, it’s certainly in need of renovation.
This became glaringly apparent during this year’s heat wave, during which students in May Hall had a lovely view of the air-conditioned Hemenway building while they suffered in poorly ventilated rooms that reached temperatures of over ninety degrees.
Humanity and social science majors pay just as much money to attend this university and yet over the past eight years they’ve been placed on the back burner.
We at The Gatepost don’t believe it’s too much to ask that FSU’s next big spending project be renovating May Hall and finding ways to support the growth of humanities and social science majors and concentrations.
As Cevallos himself said, “It’s nice to have facilities that look good, that look clean.”
We couldn’t say it better ourselves.