With the screening room’s construction facing endless delays, CSI demonstrates their inattention to their media culture department and student needs.

By A. Gaytan

This semester, the media culture department is yet again faced with a screening room unavailable for teaching, in spite of an estimated completion of January 2023.

Classes are forced to be distributed to other classrooms without the guarantee of equipment up to par with that of the screening room which negatively affects the education of students within this department. This calls into question CSI’s lack of attention to this department and the needs of its current students. Plans to renovate the media screening room in 1P 223 have been in motion as far back as March 2020. As mentioned under current construction projects provided by Campus Planning, these plans include infrastructure needs such as replacement of furnishings and lighting devices, as well as technology/media needs such as a new projector screen and equipment installation.

Despite this, the pandemic hit soon afterwards and many projects were put on hold for safety. Construction on the screening room seems to have not picked up until around October 2022 with the estimated time frame for completion being January 2023 as given by Campus Planning on the CSI website. A sign directly outside of the screening room telling students of the renovation estimated a later date of completion to March 2023. 

Regardless of these estimates, we have now entered the spring semester of 2024 with this renovation still not being completed. The working permit just outside of the screening room has now been extended to April 2024 and further delays on the project have been announced. In this span of time, a new Director of Campus Planning, Facilities Management, and Operations, Keith J. Pistons, was appointed in January 2023. Changes in management can lead to shifting priorities when it comes to current projects, however progress on the screening room’s renovation has been slow going at best and reflects poorly on CSI’s view of their media culture department.

Film theory and history courses, often prerequisites in this department, are supposed to be taught within this screening room. These courses often screen films to analyze and discuss in class as part of the curriculum with the equipment in this room guaranteeing a proper viewing. Since the screening room is currently unavailable, many of these classes have been distributed to regular classrooms all across campus in which the current technology cannot promise a good viewing and may even compromise the professors’ ability to teach the class. 

Since these classes are fundamental to this department and its programs, it’s worrisome how this renovation is not being given more priority. This lack of care when it comes to the media culture department directly impairs the education these students are entitled to by CSI. Furthermore, news of these actions might discourage students from enrolling in programs within this department as they are faced with the reality that their college will not prioritize their needs.  

The delays on this renovation are part of a bigger issue with CSI not prioritizing student needs as a whole. The screening room renovation is part of a big list of current projects CSI has proposed and still not seen fully though. This particular project impacts the media culture department, but what department may be next? Which programs will have their own students’ needs fall on deaf ears in the future?

As a student under the media culture department here at CSI who has already had two of their own classes negatively impacted by the delayed renovation of the screening room, I believe this construction should be given more priority. We students are entitled to a proper education and the proper facilities to be instructed within.