JORDAN PATTERSON
Assistant News Editor
Those who tried to walk across the bridge between McEwen Hall and the Williams Center failed.
Last year, it was announced that the Academic Spine Bridge, a piece of architecture designed by famous architect I.M. Pei, whose work (among other projects) includes The Louvre Pyramid, would be removed. The master plan for the campus, which included the Spine, was finished by Pei in 1968.
The first phase of this $1.6 million removal was finished over the summer. The second phase will consist of redesigning the entrance into Reed Library and creating a promenade (essentially a paved walkway). The black top that sits in between the two buildings is only temporary for this year.
“Oh, it’s different for sure,” junior sports management major Kyle Schrantz said when asked how he felt about the project. Although admitting he noticed the big change, Schrantz looked at its removal in a more positive light.
“But I kind of like it. It makes the space feel more open,” Schantz added.
Senior BFA sculpture major Julian Perez seconded what Schrantz had to say.
“I enjoy the open space because it’s less congested,” Perez said.
While enjoying the new look to the campus, Perez acknowledged it’s sad the bridge won’t be replaced.
“But it’s been there since I was little, so it’s quite upsetting that it’s gone,” he said.
Senior public relations major Kristen Becker agreed with Perez’s sentiment and said, “It is sad that incoming freshman will never experience the bridge.”
While students may feel saddened about the Spine’s removal, the school felt it was unsafe and made a logistical move.
One student, senior computer science major Jeremy Eckstrom, agreed with the general consensus but also looked at it logically.
“I thought the bridge was a nice addition to the campus, and it’s unfortunate that they had to remove it,” said Eckstrom. “However, you could tell it was structurally unsound as it leaked water pretty bad when it was raining.”
Eckstrom’s concern was echoed in President Virginia Horvath’s speech during the annual All Campus Address on Aug. 18.
“It was really not doing very well structurally,” Horvath said. “When we had the structural engineers from SUNY come look at it, they told us that we had just a few years of life left before we’d start to have serious problems.”
Horvath insisted that the bridge wouldn’t have ever fallen over, but that pieces would begin to fall off. She drew attention to the reality that the University already had pieces of the bridge patched up.
Any hopes of a new bridge being built in the place of the old one were dashed in the very same speech. Horvath emphasised that SUNY made it clear that they would not fund any projects involving bridges in between buildings.
“There was not an option to replace it,” Horvath said.