President’s Blog Flow of Ideas

We just received the news that the Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center has been awarded the LEED Gold designation. That is quite an achievement. And credit goes to our determined student leaders.

I remember vividly the day almost four years ago when then-Vice President Tom Nycum came to see me with a look of concern on his face. The final bids for the Cornerstone had come in significantly above our earlier estimates, and a project that had been budgeted at $25 million had ballooned to $35 million. We knew that we could not sign off on that figure. Consequently our facilities folks, working with the Mortenson Construction team, went back to pare the project down.

Our goal was to keep the major features of the building but to cut the final contract to $33 million or less. One recommendation was to eliminate the $450,000 that was earmarked for LEED.  The Board of Trustees gave us the green light for the project.

But student leaders who were part of the Campus Sustainability Council questioned our decision. In their view LEED certification at the Silver level could be achieved for much less than the budgeted amount. I challenged them to put together a realistic budget, working with Stan Rovira, project coordinator for the college.

Within weeks the students came back with a budget of $125,000. Stan said he thought the numbers were solid and the goal achievable. Thus, I went back to the Board of Trustees and proposed that we approve this expenditure. They said yes.

As it happened, nearly everyone involved, from Stan and our CC facilities folks to the Mortenson team and Antoine Predock and the architects, devoted a special effort to successfully meet LEED requirements. Credit must be shared widely.

But first and foremost, credit goes to the CC students who would not abandon their effort to hold us to high standards when it comes to sustainability. They are the real Gold Medal winners on campus.