View print quality imageBefore the IUPUI Campus Center officially opened its doors in January 2008, student life at IUPUI was not the robust community it is now. Students came to campus and often just left after their classes. They might congregate in the basement of Cavanaugh Hall for some vending machine food and euchre games, or hang out in what is now University Tower, but there was no dedicated place to gather.
A bite to eat was hard to find, too; some people would hike over to one of the hospital cafeterias for a meal. In earlier days, the Union Building on the west side of campus offered some amenities, but by the time the campus was a couple of decades old, that building was in decline and on its way out.
#CampusCenterTurns10
The Cultural Arts Gallery in Room 148 of the Campus Center is hosting the "Campus Center Turns 10" exhibit through Feb. 3. Check it out!"The need was so obvious," said former IUPUI Chancellor Charles R. Bantz. "This was a very large campus, with 29,000 students, but it did not have a student center."
A student building was part of the plan for campus almost since its inception. Since the early 1970s, the idea had been for a fourth building to be erected in the area of Taylor Hall, Cavanaugh Hall and Lecture Hall.
"The goal was really clear," Bantz said. "We needed a place for students to gather, to study, to eat, to actually interact with each other -- a place where they could catch some sleep or have group meetings."
