Over the next four years, Syracuse University could roll out several costly infrastructure and academic initiatives that would dramatically change the university’s campus layout and academic structure.

Most of the changes are tied to SU Chancellor Kent Syverud’s flagship Fast Forward Syracuse initiative, which includes the new Academic Strategic Plan and overarching Campus Framework project.

The ASP is aimed at advancing SU’s research capacity and prioritizing internationalization and programs tailored to veterans and military students, among other goals.

The Campus Framework is the university’s 20-year plan intended to guide physical campus development and construction in both the short- and long-term.

SU has yet to announce a concrete timeline for some of the bigger Campus Framework projects.

One major project the university plans to undertake, for example, is the relocation of South Campus sophomore, junior and senior student housing to Main Campus.

That project has not started. The university wants to build new housing off Ostrom Avenue, according to a draft of the Campus Framework.

SU also wants to refurbish and modernize Bird Library, the Schine Student Center and build a new promenade along the Quad.

The exact cost of the Campus Framework remains unknown, but renovations to the Carrier Dome and Archbold Gymnasium — two of the projects included in the Campus Framework’s second draft — are estimated to cost $250 million total.

In June, SU announced that one project — the centralization of student health services at the new Barnes Center at The Arch — would be partially funded by a $5 million donation from SU Board of Trustees chairman Steven Barnes. The Barnes Center would include a fitness center, indoor sports courts, an elevated running track and a multifloor rock climbing wall.

Invest Syracuse, meanwhile, was announced earlier this summer as a way to both promote and pay for ASP goals.

A $3,300 Invest Syracuse premium will be added to student tuition in fall 2018, according to a July SU News release. Administrative spending will also be cut by $30 million.

Syverud in January announced that a group of high-ranking SU officials, including Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Amir Rahnamay-Azar, will work to develop and implement a plan to fund ASP initiatives and goals.

Vice Chancellor and Provost Michele Wheatly is tasked with implementing the ASP.

Aspects of both the ASP and Campus Framework have been criticized by university staff and faculty members. Tension surrounded the multimillion-dollar University Place promenade project, and some faculty had previously expressed concern about how SU would fund the ASP.

“This will require candid and tough conversations about our priorities and our choices as we enter our next phase in aiming for excellence,” Syverud said in January.

 

Published on August 23, 2017 at 9:00 am

Contact Sam: sfogozal@syr.edu | @SamOgozalek