A lot of people don’t know that there is a campus merger happening. The “One College Model” has been in the works since 2019. The one campus model promises to benefit students from a unified and equal access to information, but how is it currently affecting students?
Put simply, most students do not know that the different campuses are unifying. Talking with students reveals they know very little about any of it.
However, the ones who are aware of the merger, know it by its negative side effects. An unintended side effect of the transitional period is chaotic communication.
Student Government has experienced difficulties obtaining approval, funding, and resources for events which slows down the process for creating those events.
The upcoming Art Gala (April 19th, 6-9pm), spearheaded by Jacky Sticca and the rest of Student Government, has been a manic, miscommunication mess. Communicating with staff has become an “email game” according to Sticca.
In other student-run clubs, funding and marketing materials have to be chased down. There is also a lack of support for clubs and the current difficulties have been widespread. This is due to low staff and the current staff members spread too thin as they have to travel to manage the three campuses.
Owen Halac, leader of the Theater Club, had experienced headaches when reaching out to people for help for his club. Eventually finding it, his club is now successful.
Even the Stall Street Journal, the informational bathroom information publication, is experiencing issues. It has gone back and forth between showing information about events happening over three campuses and only Larimer campus.
There was also a month-long period where the events weren’t being updated on the Stall Street Journal at all. Confusion and the unsuccessful dissemination of information is affecting students in this way.
However, it must be remembered that this is a transitional phase at FRCC. Many of the inner workings of the merger are still being figured out and people are being hired and trained. The benefits of the campus merger are going to make it better for most students in the long run.
For starters, the communication disaster is likely to eventually sort itself out, and the unification of the college will likely benefit students by providing them with more resources and making the campuses more standardized. This will help club members and club leaders to succeed.
The dean and department restructure will also potentially benefit all students in the long run by having more specialized and focused department heads.
So is the one campus model a good thing for students? It’s not clear yet, but we have to stick in there and take both sides into consideration.
