A new gateway to Bradley University is coming soon, as President James Shadid announced on Nov. 13, calling the project “an exciting moment in Bradley’s ongoing story.”
This may seem hyperbolic at first. After all, what’s so great about a gate? But really, it’s a way to improve the university’s aesthetics, and sometimes aesthetics matter.
For example, when prospective students consider Bradley, it is essential that they feel welcome not just from smiling faces but also from an inviting landscape. As enrollment continues to decline, one way to bring it back up may just be to make the campus more attractive.
Most students would be lying if they said they didn’t care about the appearance of the place they intend to spend years living, learning and working at. But it would also be wrong to pretend this is their top priority.
While beauty matters, there are so many things that matter more.
Bradley has recently demonstrated a commendable commitment to providing high-quality education and building strong relationships between faculty and students. As long as this continues to be true, there’s no reason that the outside of campus shouldn’t reflect what’s going on within.
The new entryway will be situated at the corner of Main and University Street, displacing the current Continuing Education building, which houses Bradley’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), leading the center to find its new home at Westlake Hall.
The real beauty of the project is that it has been made possible by 100 percent donor funding. The university isn’t wasting money on a trivial pursuit; it’s investing extra funds to make Bradley a bit more inviting.
