As you can see from the photo above, students use the benches. However, often overlooked is the contribution that these benches have on the student experience. UNC Charlotte is frequently classified as a “commuter school” even though more the 50% of our students live within one mile of the campus, as much as any other traditional university in the state. Part of the reason we have the commuter school stigma is that there aren’t any real areas on campus that students hang out in. Benches give students a place to stay between and before classes, encouraging more students to hang out in the area.
This not only plays into campus safety, because the more students in an area decreases the likelihood of criminal activity, but it also gives a sense of community because people have a place to exchange ideas.
Sadly, the way our campus is set up, even if we get rid of the stigmas of a commuter school by adding football, having more residents, gaining a rec center and moving into the student union, we’ll still have a commuter feel. Why?
The campus is set up just like a suburban/urban environment that is the bane of smart growth and development.
On the outer parts of the campus are the residence halls while the inner portions of the campus contain all of the classroom buildings. Thus, students living on campus perpetually must “commute” by walking which can take just as long as students that have to drive in and park.
Hopefully our master planners will consider this in future recommendations and will think about replacing the Denny building with a future residence hall. Think of the different atmosphere our campus would have if there were 300-400 students always near the academic buildings. We would have a much more welcoming atmosphere and people would hang out, starting the avalanche effect… leading towards more students hanging out.
It would be great!
