University of Virginia Library

New Building

Newcomb Hall, which isn't an
old building (it was built in 1958),
must have been designed by someone
with absolutely no ideas at all
of the emotional needs of the
students and community which it is
supposed to serve. No fault lies
with those who presently run the
operation-Mr. Herring and crew,
and the present head of the University
Union, Clay Spencer, who is
doing a fantastic job. But the
facilities with which these people
have to work with are atrocious and
make many outstanding ideas only
figments of the imagination.

It may seem to some groups
other than students that to make a
fuss over the inferior status of your
student union building is to quibble
over luxuries. A student union
building, though is not a luxury,
but an integral part of the atmosphere
under which everyone
attempts to fulfill the purpose
which brought him to the
University in the first place.
Assuming that in most cases the
purpose is an academic or
intellectual one, the type and
functional character of the building
may be as important as the faculty,
classroom buildings, caliber of
students, and quality of life in the
dorms.