The Chronicle remembers veteran adviser Jim Sulski
chronicle THE COLUMBIA
The Official News Source of Columbia College Chicago
January 25, 2010
Volume 45 Number 15
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A ‘moveable feast’ for students Classes slashed across campus
Columbia cuts many courses due to lack of student enrollment by Laura Nalin Assistant Campus Editor WHAT APPEARS to be one of the most severe
Brent Lewis THE CHRONICLE
The Media Production Center, the newest addition to Columbia’s campus, opened today at 16th and State streets. The center hosts an array of media art production areas and classrooms including a state-of-the-art motion capture room used to record the motion of an individual and use it for digital media.
After seven years in the making the Media Production Center opens its doors to Columbia by Ciara Shook Assistant Campus Editor FOR THE first time in its 120 year history,
Columbia has commissioned an entirely new academic building in Chicago’s South Loop. After years in the making, the groundbreaking new building, known as the Media Production Center, opened its doors to Columbia students today, kicking off the start of the spring semester. Making the MPC a reality has been in the works for seven years and after a quick 12 months of construction, it is complete; with two sound stages, a motion capture studio and other facilities to deliver an optimum education to Columbia’s media students. The building is designed to fit the needs of students in the Film and Video, Interactive Arts and Media and Television departments.
The one-and-a-half story building sits at the southwest corner of 16th and State streets, with every other window a translucent color reflecting the color bars of television test patterns. The MPC is eco-friendly, as it was built with a green roof containing 50 percent vegetation for energy efficiency, a measure taken to achieve a LEED certification. The vegetation sitting atop the sound stages will also serve as a sound barrier from outside noise. Jeanne Gang, of Studio Gang Architects in Chicago, designed the complex around her knowledge of filmmaking. “She asked me what my top 10 films were,” said Doreen Bartoni, dean of the School of Media Arts. “She studied those films and incorporated her knowledge of film into the design of the building.” Gang created subtle learning experiences for the students by emulating a frame within a frame, a long shot and a wide-angle shot. “As you walk up the ramp, you think, ‘I want to get a camera. I want to start
shooting.’ That’s what she’s trying to trigger,” Bartoni said. Alicia Berg, vice president of Campus Environment, said the building of the MPC has been an incredibly successful project, as the $21 million building was built on schedule and under budget. “We worked diligently with the architect [Gang], making sure we got a building that will be not primarily an architecturally significant building, but a building that will be a fabulous place for students to learn the art of filmmaking and the art of interactive arts and media and creating a space that a lot of different departments can work together [in],” Berg said. Annette Barbier, chair of the Interactive Arts and Media Department, said the opening of the MPC will give the department more opportunities to interact with people from various fields throughout the college. “We’d like to work with dancers and » SEE MPC, PG. 8
EXCLUSIVE ONLINE CONTENT : TAKE A VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE MEDIA PRODUCTION CENTER ONLINE
course cancellations in the college’s history took place last week, just days before students were set to return for the spring semester. The last-minute cancellations have left both students and faculty scrambling to make tough adjustments to their schedules. With most classes at their capacity, many students have been left in a lurch, hoping to find an open course that will suit their needs. Columbia’s administration seemed reluctant to release information as repeated phone requests by The Chronicle for exact numbers were not returned. Some courses that aided students in their concentration, such as the College Newspaper Workshop taught by Jeff Lyon, have been removed from the curriculum due to low enrollment numbers. Although it is still unclear how many classes were removed college-wide, 15 classes in the Journalism Department alone have been cancelled this semester. Len Strazewski, associate professor and acting chair of the Journalism Department for the spring 2010 semester, said that although he wasn’t directly involved with the cancellations in the past, this semester has been quite different compared to previous terms. One of the differences Strazewski mentioned was the decision-making process involved. He said his understanding of the situation is that the cancellations are more severe in terms of class size. “In previous semesters, if we had a class of five or six students we could make a case of, ‘Well, you know, it’s a small class, but we really want to teach it,’” Strazewski said. “This semester, we were told frankly that classes [with] under nine [students] probably shouldn’t run unless there was a compelling reason, like if it » SEE DROPPED, PG. 8
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North Siders head south
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Locals help INDEX Haitian victims CAMPUS
Doomsday exercise
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