‘Doing more with less’: Fuller Dome carries on Fuller’s legacy

of the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability board.

game was lost.

The Center for Spirituality and Sustainability presented an exhibition filled with belongings donated from the Fuller Estate in a gallery made possible from a grant by the Meridian Society. The exhibition included several tools and belongings of Buckminster Fuller.

Tovia Black, manager of the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability, said Buckminster Fuller has a long history with this region of the country. Black said that history is something the center wishes to promote as much as possible.

“Buckminster Fuller created the design for the geodesic dome in 1971,” Black said. “He was a humanitarian and an activist, and he was very passionate about helping people understand their connection to the Earth and to each other.”

Ethel Shanklin, president of the Meridian Society, attended the Buckminster Fuller exhibit on April 15 to receive a public thankyou from members

“The Meridian Society is a nonprofit organization, part of SIUE,” Shanklin said. “What we do is send out applications to secure funding for organizations who need it. We assisted in funding the art gallery, as well as the stereo system they have, so I’m here for them to thank us today.”

The Buckminster Fuller exhibition was set up in part to extend gratitude towards the Meridian Society for theirgrants, demonstrating the extensive usage of the gallery they funded. The center has also hosted an exhibition on vessels and pottery in the recent past.

Benjamin Lowder, Director of the Center for Spirituality and Sustainability, agreed with Black that the center was excited about this donation in particular because of the close affiliation Fuller had with these objects.

Lowder used as an example Fuller’s “World Game,” a simulation in which people would have to cooperate to share resources instead of going to war over them. If conflict arose, the

“We just get hijacked by people who want to make money by doing things the old way, or keep power by doing things the old way,” Lowder said. “It would be nice if the human species was proactive instead of preventative, but where we’re at now in the timeline, we’ll probably adopt his ideas out of necessity of survival rather than preventing disaster. It’s a legacy that becomes more important day by day.”

“They have a resonance almost as talismanic objects he invested a lot of talent with,” Lowder said. “These are the ways he communicated his ideas, his genius. That’s how he got his ideas out of his head and into the world.”

Lowder said the Fuller Estate has been donating to the center since 2017. The center runs on donations and fundraisers, as the building is not actually owned by SIUE, instead owned by the building’s board.

“[The Fuller Estate] knows that we’re going to get it out to the community,” Lowder said. “If you give it to a larger institution maybe that has tons of different things, it just becomes one of the many things like that warehouse in Indiana

Jones. That’s not here, and I think that they appreciate that. They’ve also identified this region as the most important region in the world for structures that Bucky actually built.”

Tom Kinsella, a center board member, said...”said the board tries to keep the Dome as updated as possible, not only to keep up with the times, but also to emulate Fuller’s mission.

“We look at this building not so much as a museum piece to honor Buckminster Fuller, but more as a living organism, and we try to treat it the way we think he would’ve treated it,” Kinsella said. “He would want to keep up with the time and science and technology. He wasn’t a static kind of guy.” For more infomation visit the website.

FRANCESCA BOSTON lifestyles editor the chat.”

Running club bounces back after pandemic and is now working to encourage runners of all speeds to be part of a larger community.

Senior Nick Miller, an exercise science major, is president of SIUE’s Running Club. He said that during the peak of COVID-19, the club had shrunk to very few members, but now the club is thriving with over 70 members.

Miller said initially he started with a group of friends he knew would be interested, and from there, started reaching out to other students through advertisements, speaking with various clubs, and creating a more effective group communication through Discord.

“I just saw an opportunity. There was a club that wasn’t active and I had the time and interest,” Miller said. “We created a GroupMe, and started marketing and networking and eventually had to switch to a different platform because it got too big and things were getting washed away in

Junior Conner Lynn is a captain for the club, which means he helps lead runs and does behind-the-scenes work like creating flyers and planning fundraisers. Lynn said he was not a serious runner most of his life, but has loved being a part of Running Club because it is an inclusive and welcoming environment.

“We’re all kind of supporting each other, kind of just giving tips to each other and then also running with each other,” Lynn said.

The club is co-ed and open to all students, no matter their athletic ability or their mile time. Miller said the club is a bit different than other Club Sports at SIUE because they are a non-competitive team, and make an effort to stress inclusivity by creating an environment welcoming to runners of all experience levels.

“There’s this misconception that you have to be the fastest runner and that is not the case,” Miller said. “We’ve kind of taken the other approach which is pretty non-traditional in club sports. We are very recreational and encourage everyone no matter their pace to join.”

Miller said while the group doesn’t specifically focus on races, one of the main draws for people to join the club was to learn how races work, and often have race fees covered by the club.

“One of the things that the ones that we advertised is free races, as we try to get people introduced into racing, because I think it’s a great atmosphere that a lot of people need to experience, especially if you don’t know what it is like,” Miller said.

The club recently ran in GO! St. Louis, an annual event held in St. Louis, that features multiple race lengths. The club had more than a dozen runners running in everything from 10K to full marathons. Miller said the race was a huge accomplishment with multiple people either running that distance in a race for the first time or setting a new personal best.

“It was just a big win for everyone. Everyone had huge accomplishments. That’s a huge blast. There is just an awesome energy the running community provides on race days,” Miller said.

The club is part of SIUE Club Sports, and receives allocation. Miller said that is where the majority of the club’s funds came from last year, but with an increase in membership, they have begun to fundraise to help maintain their funds to pay for races.

Madhu Muniganti, a grad student from India, said he joined the club quickly after arriving at SIUE and has found the club to be welcoming and motivating.

“As soon as I got here I looked for [the club] because I really wanted to join something and the club was really awesome. It motivated me as well,” Muniganti said.

Miller said if you are even halfway interested in the club, he recommends giving it a chance.

“School is stressful and can weigh you down, and exercise is one of the best way to lift yourself up, if you’re stressed in school and halfway interested in the club, just give it a shot because you never know the people you will meet. You will be healthier, happier and make friends,” Miller said.

If you are interested in joining The Running Club, visit their Get Involved page, or email Nick Miller at nichomi@siue.edu.