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11 Holiday Gifts I'd Like to Give UMBC

I spent part of a weekend day at the Columbia Mall, shopping for holiday gifts and being driven to the edge of insanity.  When I wasn't actively dodging crowds or responding to store greeters with polite evasions, I was distracting myself with a thought experiment: If I could, what would I give UMBC this holiday season?  For all that we have in our community, there are still plenty of things we could use.  Some ideas, in no particular order:
  1. Warm, sunny days and temperate nights for the next 10 Homecoming bonfires and Quadmania carnivals.
  2. At least a dozen new informal gathering spaces like the Student Organizations Space on The Commons' 2nd floor: flexible enough for spontaneity, comfortable enough to lounge around for hours.
  3. For all of the students struggling to make ends meet, my colleagues who have gone years without a salary increase, and potential UMBC donors worried about their savings: an end to this interminable period of economic gloom.
  4. A second ballroom twice the size of the original, with natural light and plenty of room backstage.  And a couple of smaller event venues, roughly the size of the Skylight Room, but with solid floors, and furniture that can moved or stored away.
  5. Chipotle.  24/7.
  6. If we had a Chipotle on campus, we'd also have to have a napping zone with unlimited supplies of clean blankets and pillows. It would make SGA President Catie Collins very happy.
  7. Forty more classrooms of various sizes, each with the latest multimedia technology and cozy, comfortable, movable seats.  Maybe with more room for classes at peak hours, we could do away with 8:00 a.m. classes forever?
  8. Historical markers telling the amazing stories behind familiar features of campus life.  How did the free hour come into being, and who had the idea for a campus pond?  What role did students play in transforming the Student Organizations Space from a storage room into a social hub?  What stately brick building once stood in the shadow of the mighty oak behind Parking Lot 17? (OK, there already is a marker for that one--but I'll bet you haven't noticed it).
  9. A dedicated physical space for free expression and open debate, maybe a little like Towson's Freedom Square.
  10. A state-of-the-art recreational facility open to all members of the campus community, with enough racquetball, squash, basketball and volleyball courts to accommodate every intramural team, sports club and pick-up game anyone wanted to play, 24/7. Plus laser tag. And did I mention the Jamba Juice in the lobby?
  11. Dr. Hrabowski has done a wonderful job of spreading the word about UMBC in recent weeks. To assist in that effort, I'd like to give the UMBC community its first Rhodes Scholarship, MacArthur Foundation Genius Award and Nobel Prize.
Some of these ideas are a little far-out and whimsical. For others, progress might be just a little coalition-building and a Prove It! submission away.  So how about you: What's on your holiday gift list for UMBC?

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Posted: December 5, 2011, 8:39 PM

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