Fountain continues to see issues despite promise
The school has failed to deliver its promise of a functional fountain for too long. | File photo/The Cougar
In May, I published a column about the Cullen Family Plaza Fountain and how students could find more important things to be worried about than that.
Now, the subhead for this story should probably be something along the lines of “Thomas Dwyer eats his own words.” Copy chief, please see to it.
Anyway, that’s what I am doing here. I have waited patiently for the announcement to come at the beginning of this year that the fountain would reopen for good. It was briefly filled, a reopening ceremony was scheduled, postponed and then cancelled.
I’m not mad, just disappointed. The fountain had been closed for two years, which sounds like ample time to figure things out.
Apparently, that is not the case. A deadline was set for when the fountain would reopen, and then it briefly returned to life. It was closed again right after. Now, nearly two months have passed and there is no information about what is going on with the fountain anywhere.
The fountain had been drained and undergoing repairs since 2014. In the early stages, the school had a sign on the fence around the structure informing passersby about its condition and when it was expected to be finished.
There is no clear date, as of right now, for when the it is even expected to be filled again.
“Because of the nature of the problems that have been encountered, the timeline for completion has yet to be finalized,” said Jacquie Vargas, an administration and finance communicator representing the facilities management department. “There is significant testing that will occur in November that will help finalize the scope of work that still needs to be accomplished. It is difficult to give an expected completion date at this time until we have testing completed.”
It does not make sense to keep something central to the identity of the campus empty and derelict for so long.
Hopefully, we’ll get the information we need this month. Hopefully, we won’t wait for two more years to see water filling this fountain.
I was naive when I wrote the original column.
I understand that the University is making great strides to give students something that they can be proud of. Yet, keeping the fountain empty for prolonged periods of time only forms one thought on all students’ minds: hating it for not being filled.
The fountain is a piece of what little university culture we currently have, a spectacle that every student should be able to enjoy. The story of how its evolution from a simple reflection pool to a fountain, complete with walkways and even an art sculpture on it, is amazing.
The fountain must be repaired with haste.
Assistant opinion editor Thom Dwyer is a broadcast journalism sophomore and can be reached at [email protected]
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