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Observations about FAU ....

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Observations about FAU ....

So the Owls Shoppe is only open at certain times the book store isn't open on weekends… Do you see anything wrong with that? As Alumni it's hard for me to get to the bookstore during the week. I have family and friends that want FAU stuff and I just can't always get there during the week. Having the book store open from like 10-2 or 10-3 on a Saturday would be great. I'm on campus a lot for BBall games but when I get there to tailgate the bookstore's already closed

My two favorite teams are FAU, and who ever is beating FIU!
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owlcountry said

If the school is going to stay small (30-35k students), which hopefully it won't, then FAU is going to need to significantly increase the number of faculty and amount of research it puts out to increase its academic standing. Before they can do that, however, they're going to need to stem this current thunderstorm brewing between the faculty and the BOT (the faculty want 10% raises, which is anywhere from $5k to $15k more annually for each person on the faculty). If they somehow agree to that, I imagine that would eat up any extra money they might have to hire additional faculty.


I haven't really read up on this topic, and haven't asked the opinions of some FAU folks, but I have heard that it's not ALL the faculty, but the Union who is the most vocal and the most concerned (as they should be). Something along those lines. Don't quote me though.

I agree our faculty need raises, but aren't most people at FAU arguing for raises? What about our support staff (secretaries, assistant directors, directors, etc.) that received a 1% raise in the past two years? While they were upset, they understand that FAU has cut (I think) $19 million from it's budget.

And I'm glad a lot of folks are starting to understand that athletics (specifically the old rumor of football) is sucking all the money up. Most of that money comes from private donations and student fees. Faculty get their money from other places.

But again, I do agree that faculty do deserve raises. I just hope that the same amount of coverage is given to other departments/FAU community members that aren't as vocal as the faculty, but deserve the same coverage.

Maybe the UP can publish a story about other public tier 4 institutions and their payroll compared to FAU's payroll of faculty? It would be interesting to see how we compare.

I'm a proud lifetime member of the FAU National Alumni Association. Are you a member? Join now at www.faualumni.org.
Tradition in the Making, One Alum at a Time…
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Jab979 said

So the Owls Shoppe is only open at certain times the book store isn't open on weekends… Do you see anything wrong with that? As Alumni it's hard for me to get to the bookstore during the week. I have family and friends that want FAU stuff and I just can't always get there during the week. Having the book store open from like 10-2 or 10-3 on a Saturday would be great. I'm on campus a lot for BBall games but when I get there to tailgate the bookstore's already closed

I agree.  Last time I was on campus was this past February '08.  I got a chance to walk around campus and was excited to buy a bunch of FAU merchandise since there really isn't much online (and mostly the same stuff) and I had not been on campus in 3 years.  Nothing was open though.  It was a Saturday.  I went to a few places off campus to try and find some stuff but they didn't have much.  It's tough to wear FAU colors, when it's not made available.
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smittysahoot said

owlcountry said

If the school is going to stay small (30-35k students), which hopefully it won't, then FAU is going to need to significantly increase the number of faculty and amount of research it puts out to increase its academic standing. Before they can do that, however, they're going to need to stem this current thunderstorm brewing between the faculty and the BOT (the faculty want 10% raises, which is anywhere from $5k to $15k more annually for each person on the faculty). If they somehow agree to that, I imagine that would eat up any extra money they might have to hire additional faculty.


I haven't really read up on this topic, and haven't asked the opinions of some FAU folks, but I have heard that it's not ALL the faculty, but the Union who is the most vocal and the most concerned (as they should be). Something along those lines. Don't quote me though.

I agree our faculty need raises, but aren't most people at FAU arguing for raises? What about our support staff (secretaries, assistant directors, directors, etc.) that received a 1% raise in the past two years? While they were upset, they understand that FAU has cut (I think) $19 million from it's budget.

And I'm glad a lot of folks are starting to understand that athletics (specifically the old rumor of football) is sucking all the money up. Most of that money comes from private donations and student fees. Faculty get their money from other places.

But again, I do agree that faculty do deserve raises. I just hope that the same amount of coverage is given to other departments/FAU community members that aren't as vocal as the faculty, but deserve the same coverage.

Maybe the UP can publish a story about other public tier 4 institutions and their payroll compared to FAU's payroll of faculty? It would be interesting to see how we compare.

Where is that $170 million we are getting from the sale of our broadband capabilities going?

Teambeer is the most knowledgeable FAU sports fan I know, way smarter than me.
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RhodeIslandOwl said

Jab979 said

So the Owls Shoppe is only open at certain times the book store isn't open on weekends… Do you see anything wrong with that? As Alumni it's hard for me to get to the bookstore during the week. I have family and friends that want FAU stuff and I just can't always get there during the week. Having the book store open from like 10-2 or 10-3 on a Saturday would be great. I'm on campus a lot for BBall games but when I get there to tailgate the bookstore's already closed

I agree.  Last time I was on campus was this past February '08.  I got a chance to walk around campus and was excited to buy a bunch of FAU merchandise since there really isn't much online (and mostly the same stuff) and I had not been on campus in 3 years.  Nothing was open though.  It was a Saturday.  I went to a few places off campus to try and find some stuff but they didn't have much.  It's tough to wear FAU colors, when it's not made available.

I agree with all of you, but put yourselves in the shoes of the business owner, who is also feeling the effects of the $19 million budget cut and are losing customers daily to online book swapping web sites. Is it worth keeping the store open for four hours (which probably means one or two people, minimum wage for four or five hours and a manager to count/drop the money? maybe?) to hope that someone comes by to purchase something?

I like how merchandise is on sale at football and basketball games though. That's awesome.

I don't have an answer to those of us who aren't there that often other than beg and plead for the bookstore to update their web site and put all merchandise online.

I'm a proud lifetime member of the FAU National Alumni Association. Are you a member? Join now at www.faualumni.org.
Tradition in the Making, One Alum at a Time…
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Re: Observations about FAU ....

owlcountry said

AlexFAU06 said

I also take my time sometimes to drive by FAU and see the progress. I was there on friday and I saw plenty of students wearing FAU t-shirts. I got pissed because the owl logo shop was closed. They do not open on friday!! why??. I had to go to the bookstore and got my FAU merchandise. I noticed that by the north east area of the school; it is planned to build a new building for engineering and computer science. What is FAU going to do with the engineering bldg in front of the library? They could demolish it and build more dorms in my opinion. I can't wait to see the new stadium by 2010 and more students living on campus. FAU will change a lot in 3 to 4 years, but I do not know if FAU will turn into a 1st choice school when every single school is trying to do the same thing. Everything depends on the type of programs and how they are rated nationally.
Good job Smitty!!!

GO OWLS!!

The Owl Wear Logo Shoppe in the Student Union is not open very often. It's usually open a couple of hours during the week and on days when there would be a decent amount of traffic through there, i.e. for orientations

Regarding what FAU is going to do with the old Engineering building, last I heard it was going to be renovated and become a general classroom building. At one point I heard they were going to build a two story bookstore at the southwest point (where the little hill is) to replace our current bookstore and the 2nd floor of the student union would then have a connection to it across Dade Avenue, sorta like what they did with the Student Union/Bookstore at UF. I think that idea shifted because last I heard the spaceship (SO building) will become the new Student Union in the next 3-5 years. It's more central on campus, etc.

If the school is going to stay small (30-35k students), which hopefully it won't, then FAU is going to need to significantly increase the number of faculty and amount of research it puts out to increase its academic standing. Before they can do that, however, they're going to need to stem this current thunderstorm brewing between the faculty and the BOT (the faculty want 10% raises, which is anywhere from $5k to $15k more annually for each person on the faculty). If they somehow agree to that, I imagine that would eat up any extra money they might have to hire additional faculty.


Regarding the Student Union…

I don't think the connection over Dade Ave to a future bookstore would work because it wouldn't actually enter into the second floor of the Union, but rather straight into the Carol & Barry Kaye auditorium. The auditorium covers the entire east side of the building.

I think they should just tear the current CoE building down and either build new housing or just extend the housing lawn/quad area all the way to the library over the current site of the building.  It would open that area of campus up a bit more.

I find it interesting that you heard the SO building was to become the Student Union.  Would they tear down the "wings" of the building that currently house classrooms and offices and keep the dome "spaceship"?  To me the building isn't really fit to function as anything else but a classroom/office space that it is currently being used for.

I really think that once Innovation Village is done, FAU should focus on building a new, state of the art Student Union.  While many of the renovations to the current building are nice, Unions at other schools offer so much more, and I really think we deserve better.
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FAUstudent said

Regarding the Student Union…

I don't think the connection over Dade Ave to a future bookstore would work because it wouldn't actually enter into the second floor of the Union, but rather straight into the Carol & Barry Kaye auditorium. The auditorium covers the entire east side of the building.

Oh yeah. Good call.

FAUstudent said

I think they should just tear the current CoE building down and either build new housing or just extend the housing lawn/quad area all the way to the library over the current site of the building.  It would open that area of campus up a bit more.

Well space is a valuable commodity on campus and FAU needs more "general classroom" buildings so they're not going to tear down the current CoE building. I was thinking a similar thing, that maybe they could tear it down and build a new 600-bed dorm there. That or a parking garage for the residential students. Brogan didn't think it was necessary especially in light of the forthcoming Innovation Village project.

FAUstudent said

I find it interesting that you heard the SO building was to become the Student Union.  Would they tear down the "wings" of the building that currently house classrooms and offices and keep the dome "spaceship"?  To me the building isn't really fit to function as anything else but a classroom/office space that it is currently being used for.

All I know is that the 1961 Obelisk was supposed to include a long fountain similar to the Washington Monument that it's based upon. However, the architect said he didn't want the Senior Class Gift Council to plan a long fountain because they're thinking about extending the Spaceship west and so they'd just have to tear up/shorten the fountain when that happened anyway. I can see the classrooms and offices of the SO become Student Government, etc but I have no idea what they'd do with SO 250 or how they'd extend it.

FAUstudent said

I really think that once Innovation Village is done, FAU should focus on building a new, state of the art Student Union.  While many of the renovations to the current building are nice, Unions at other schools offer so much more, and I really think we deserve better.

Brogan's 2017 speech talked about a "significantly expanded or new Student Union" for the campus by then. It's on their agenda. Brian Kientz, the director of the current Student Union, has a Student Union Board and one of their goals is to visit other student unions. That means either they want to further renovate the current Student Union or gather ideas for an all-new one. I actually gave him a list of ideas but he probably won't remember them when it comes time to make the decisions on any new Student Union.

I've checked out websites for the Student Unions at Michigan, Ohio State, Berkeley, etc. Our Student Union is pretty much the same thing as them… theirs is just bigger and they have more activities going on, i.e. speeches, movies, campus activity board events and gallery openings. Where we'll have 1-3 things going on in the Student Union per day, they have 6-10.

In terms of amenities, UF's Reitz Union is huge and has bowling lanes, a big pool table area, a small arcade, a Taco Bell open until 2 in the morning, a Welcome Center, 4-5 floors of rooms, a place called Orange & Brew like Coyote Jack's and I've heard that the top floor has hotel rooms too. These are some of the same things (hotel rooms, late night restaurant, bowling) we should consider for a new Student Union.

Other things I think we should consider are a daycare (FAU has a lot of older students with kids), a shirt and banner shop (putting one on campus would make it so much easier on campus organizations), a multidenominational faith center (in other words, a place to pray), a gallery for student works (architectural models, Hoot recordings CDs, FAU films, etc) unless the old Student Union becomes a Welcome Center and then you can put it there, another 24 hour computer lab…. stuff like that.
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