UCI Farm School Fate Stirs Debate

Re “Problems Crop Up at Famed Farm School,” June 29:

A rigorous and ambitious school program was designed for the Farm School so that students would learn to be smarter, think better and be more humane. The academic effectiveness of the Farm School has been reflected in the successes of its former students as they have continued their education. Educators from as far away as Germany and Japan have visited to learn this program.

The undergraduate course “Creative Learning in Children” has been offered at the Farm School every quarter for the past 27 years, enrolling roughly 1,500 undergraduates during that time. This course is one of only two classes that are currently offered in the psychology major that give our 700 undergraduate majors the chance to engage in ongoing research.

This school is a successful, time-tested working model of many of the innovations in education. To lose this model of quality education and this resource for our undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, community and the children enrolled would be tragic.

CHRISTINE LOFGREN

Undergraduate advisor, psychology

UC Irvine

* The university’s plan for a student recreation center to be built over the current Farm School treats the renowned primary school as still an “interim” use, a sort of trailer squatting on land that the university has now decided to put to legitimate use.

Much has changed in the 25 years since the Long Range Development Plan for UCI was first produced. One thing is that this “interim use” school has taken off, proved itself as an exceptional school for grade-school children, an excellent training ground for undergraduate students in the field of education (one of the few places left where students can get experience in a classroom before a first job) and a research laboratory where advanced research in education can take place.

A creative, accommodating approach might well find a way to enhance a university rather lacking in unique features. Is it imperative that this recreation center surrounded by playing fields and parking lots (and eventually, a four-lane roadway with added bicycle lanes) be built in exactly this spot?

Does this center have to be placed squarely on top of a school making excellent use of a very small historic site?

Universities that have been around for many more years than this one have found that by accommodating plans to include buildings and programs of unique character the university is enriched far more than by steamrollering over them to fit some master plan.

ELLEN S. BURT

Professor, UCI

* Proponents of the UCI Farm School consider the education it provides to be unmatched in the world. While that topic itself remains debatable, they seem to want to stop the expansion of the university so that the school can retain its rural, pastoral surrounding.

That, coupled with their cries that its dissolution would be a grave injustice to the community, seems to neglect one very important thing--the 17,000 students that pay fees and attend UC Irvine.

The new campus recreation center does not presently seek to force the alternative education out of its location but has planned for the main building to go up around the Farm School.

Although admittedly the recreation center will eventually overtake the land on which the Farm School sits, it will not do so until the student population requires such expansion.

The old facility, presently housing both campus recreation and athletics, built in 1969 to accommodate a student population of 3,000, is overcrowded and in dire need of renovation. Students are often turned away from classes, club teams and activities because the department lacks either the class space or the facilities.

The value of the new recreation center, which will serve not only the 17,000 students but the surrounding community as well, and was passed by referendum by the students, is called into question because of the relocation of 52 elementary school students.

DAVID McGLYNN

Student, UCI

* The site for the new recreation center was chosen for several reasons. It is located on the edge of current student housing and will eventually be at the center of a small city of approximately 8,000 students. It will be within walking distance of the majority of students living on campus and will also have convenient street access and parking for commuting students.

The site also allows all of the facilities, including the building, pool, tennis courts and multipurpose playing fields, to be contiguous to each other. This allows the recreation staff to more easily supervise the activities, move and store equipment and provide a secure environment for students.

This site also has the least environmental impact. Much of the East Campus is covered by rolling hills which would have required extensive grading to construct the large level fields required for softball, soccer, football and other recreational sports. The site selected will require only moderate grading and the significant environmental features of the area will be preserved, including a riparian area to the north of the site and the Torrey pines located in the Farm School area.

VICTORIA CAMPBELL

Chair, Student Recreation

Center advisory board

UCI