Home > Opinion > Christmas comes early for UMD with nearly $50 million received
Christmas comes early for UMD with nearly $50 million received
UMD received two gifts in the form of funding from the bonding bill signed by Governor Tim Pawlenty April 7. According to UMD’s home page. Pawlenty’s approved funding for both an expansion on the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center (DECC) as well as a new engineering building on campus. The information stated that the DECC received $38 million for its expansion, including a new hockey arena which will seat 6,630 people.
Additionally, UMD received $10 million for a new civil engineering building, planned to open in fall 2010 near the library. Duluth’s new civil engineering program will begin in 2008 and is expected to help increase undergraduate engineering enrollment from 750 to near 1,000 by 2012.
Although UMD seemed to be awarded a generous amount of funding from the bonding bill signed by Pawlenty, others didn’t feel quite the same. Over $200 million was cut from the bonding bill, according to an article titled “DECC Receives $38 Million in Bonding Bill” on msnbc.com, including funding for Lake Superior College.
The bright side of an expansion to the DECC is an increased job supply to the community of Duluth, during the construction of the hockey arena, as well as, a new and improved hockey arena, which is supposed to be more energy efficient and modern. According to the home page, the current arena the Bulldogs have been playing in has been in use since 1966. A new hockey arena will not only attract fans, but possible recruits as well.
With a lot of recent additions and renovations to UMD, many of us have experienced construction on campus for our entire college careers. In the last few years alone, UMD has built the Swenson Science Building, Labovitz School of Business and a new rec center and renovated the Life Sciences just to name a few things. With the continuing construction of campus buildings and renovations, UMD updates seem to never end.
For those of us lucky enough to take advantage of UMD’s new additions and who have had an opportunity to see what it was like before them, the last few years have been quite exciting. With a new home arena and a new civil engineering building, as well as new program, UMD will continue to grow with both population and academics. As students of a continually growing and dynamic university, it’s both a privilege and excitement to know our futures here at UMD will be both academically stimulating and accommodating.
The Editorial & Opinion departments are independent of the newsroom. The editorial board prepares the editorials labeled “EDITORIALS,” which are the opinion of the Statesman as an institution but not representative of Statesman employees’ opinions. Columnists’ opinions are their own.
