Our new big, open space

Jackhammers and dynamite were absent Wednesday afternoon, but a cake-cutting ceremony at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time marked the end of the Bryan Center walkway, symbolically speaking. The demolition has been a long time in the planning, and in the next few days actual bulldozers will descend upon the vast, narrow cement walkway that connects West Campus and the Bryan Center and finally knock it down. In its place will be 18 months of construction followed by the much-touted West Campus plaza.

Fundamentally, the plaza is a big, open space that will be an improvement over the current B.C. walkway. The planned space includes multiple levels, seating areas, trees and a space for a stage. When it is finally built, the plaza will create something that Duke desperately needs—a place where students can be virtually guaranteed that they will run into friends and acquaintances and perhaps even some people they would prefer to avoid. Students tend to gather anywhere on campus where there are tables or benches, and this central spot for that will be a welcome addition. That is, if the plaza succeeds in the way that officials are predicting it will.

A glossy brochure the University uses to solicit donations toward the plaza’s $10 million price tag includes testimonials from students about the fact that this new space will transform social life on campus by bringing people together in a central location. The official information promises equally lofty results. “A main stage for the art, Plaza dining, small and large group gathering nodes, and a ‘mist fountain’ will come together to create a uniquely relaxing outdoor experience for the Duke University community, enabling a student’s academic and social life to naturally converge,” the brochure reads.

The image of the plaza set forth in the publicity material would be great for this campus. But, fundamentally the plaza is just a big, open space.

The success of the space will depend on what people do with it. University administrators have repeatedly said that the responsibility for using the plaza will rest with students. The stage will sit vacant until someone decides to produce a show there, and the mist fountains will remain unused until someone decides to sit under them.

Although it is by no means certain that students will embrace the plaza in that way, giving them the option may go a long way to making the social scene more vibrant. If it works, the credit for its success should largely go to Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs.

From the beginning, the plaza has been Moneta’s pet project. When he first started talking about tearing down the Bryan Center several years ago, he envisioned a “campus village” and the project included a revitalization of dining options and renovations of the Bryan Center and the West Union Building. This project was initially going to transform undergraduate life. What Duke is now constructing is a much pared-down version of those initial visions. As the plaza has evolved (and shrunk), Central Campus has replaced the plaza as the primary staging ground of what the campus could become. While the University’s collective imagination has run wild about the future of Central, Moneta continued to advocate for improvements to the center of West.

As a result, the transformation of the Bryan Center walkway into an outdoor patio will be the first major capital improvement to student affairs. And as an added bonus, full funding seems virtually guaranteed. Whatever doubts have halted this project in the past, it’s now a reality—and only time will tell whether it is a success.