FAU community wants more parking, bowling alley

The university will consider these suggestions and more for the university’s master plan, a 10-year agenda for academic and constructional progress.

Lead Planner for Hanbury Scott Miller spoke with sophomore neuroscience and behavior major Megan Caudle about where she spends most of her time at FAU. Alexander Rodriguez | News Editor

Alexander Rodriguez and Hope Dean
April 20, 2018

Students and faculty made a wish list about what they’d like to see on the Boca and Jupiter campuses, and the university took notes.

On the list are extended times for late-night dining options, more seats and tables around campus, a bowling alley, added parking garages, and increased handicapped parking, among other requests. Hanbury, an architecture and planning company, sat outside the Student Union on Wednesday to collect these responses for FAU’s future master plan.

The master plan, an 18-part catalog of academic goals and construction projects, is required by Florida statutes for all state universities. It’s designed to be updated every five years, but no changes have been made for the past nine, according to FAU’s facilities management website.

“The master plan is actually a visioning exercise. We’re looking at a ten-year horizon and it’s to help guide the future developments,” Director of Budget and Planning at FAU’s Facilities Management Azita Dotiwala said. “We are in the initial information gathering stage.”

Several tables were set up with poster board maps of the campus perched beside them. Students were asked to draw their frequent walking or driving routes on campus and to share where they hang out during their free time. They were also able to leave sticky note comments about what they want added to campus. 

A Hanbury employee had students draw a red line on the poster board to map the daily routes they take while on campus. Alexander Rodriguez | News Editor

To Scott Miller, the Lead Planner at Hanbury, listening to student input is critical to their project. 

One student wants FAU to add another residence hall.

“Recently [FAU] have added more double beds in the housing rooms,” sophomore neuroscience and behavior major Megan Caudle said. “Stop stuffing students into a small room.”

After all the data and suggestions are collected, Hanbury will go through the information and present it to the university.

“We are here to serve students and I think it’s good to see what the students have to say as far as what is their experience, whether they are incoming freshmen or if they have been here for four years,” Dotiwala said.

Alexander Rodriguez is the news editor of the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet @AARodriguezz93.

Hope Dean is the features editor of the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected].