Dolan Campus is hardly a campus. A walk from Dolan to the Main Campus shows us all just how different it is. Main campus has the Campus Center, the Quad, and the bulk of the academic buildings in addition to the library all within just a few minutes of each other. Dolan has two buildings really and one of them sits essentially vacant.
The vibrancy here is Main Campus. Tour groups don’t take the painful walk to Dolan. It’s not a highlight of the school. Most of the 195 students that live in Dolan look forward to living on the Quad or elsewhere year after year. The deadness combined with a circuitous and long walk to civilization are the main reasons for the continued exodus.
The solution to the distance, as the University sees it, is the infamous shuttle service. But actually getting the shuttle when you want or need it has the odds of about one-in-four. Once on, going from Dolan to the Campus Center is usually a direct and painless endeavor. However, coming back often you need to transfer buses at Alumni Hall, and are subjected to entire campus run sometimes before you actually arrive back at Dolan. The lack of a reliable shuttle contributes heavily to the feeling of “get me out of here” that most Dolanites have.
It is time that things got better up at Dolan. A dedicated shuttle should be put in place running from Dolan to the Campus Center all day and into the night. This means that one would wait no longer than five minutes for it. Complimenting this would be the installation of “bus stops” at both the Campus Center and outside Dolan complete with an awning that shields students waiting from the elements.
Secondly, use Dolan Commons for what it is worth. A gigantic vacant unproductive resource could be used to describe it at present. At the very least it should house a food kiosk for Dolan students and ideally, Dolanites should have a small cafeteria dedicated to them. Using Dolan Commons for increased classes, housing, and or food is essential to creating a campus feeling.
A final thought is that there is a tremendous amount of land surrounding Dolan. If this land were used for another dorm Dolanites would have some company. A second dorm would also create a need for a second cafeteria. The university has wisely spent money creating top-notch facilities on the main campus and now it is time that it did the same for the Dolan Campus.
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