A week after overcrowding at the Torrey Memorial Bible Conference once again forced students to be outsourced into overflow sites, the possibility of an on-campus event center is resurfacing.
NEED FOR AN EVENTS CENTER
The building of an events center would help address the space issues that plague events across campus, such as the semi-annual conferences, intramural games, concerts and chapels, according to Laura Igram-Edwards, Associated Students adviser.
Currently, the largest available space to hold a massive number of people is Chase Gymnasium, whose maximum occupancy tops out at 2,400. The second-largest is Sutherland Auditorium, which is capped at 794 and is simply not big enough, Igram-Edwards said.
“It all started when I became AS adviser in July 2011. Something that became really evident to me was that we are missing event space,” she said.
Igram-Edwards envisions a new events center at Biola looking similar to the Richard and Vivian Felix Event Center at Azusa Pacific University. This space allows for 4,000 seats and features a green room and two permanent concession stands, according to the center’s website.
“I’d love it if somehow it was connected to the SUB, where students come, and it would have space for large events like Nationball … [and] where everybody can fit at the same time for Torrey Conference,” Igram-Edwards said. “And it would also have recreation space. In my wildest dreams, a bowling alley would be awesome.”
Recent attempts to fix the lack of space have included proposing a temporary hardwood floor to be used by intramurals, which currently hosts all games in the gym, according to a letter sent to the President’s Administrative Council by Igram-Edwards and Janine Marderian, the 2011-2012 AS president. However, the City of La Mirada shut down this possibility, according to Igram-Edwards. Part of this is due to increasingly stringent noise ordinances.
“AS just found out that all events that can be held indoors have to be held indoors. So more and more we’ve been relying on out here by the fireplace to hold events and the noise has been too much for the neighbors,” she said. “So we aren’t — aside from the Eddies, for right now — allowed to hold any concerts outdoors. And we don’t have an indoor space that’s big enough. So that’s why we’re no longer having large-scale concerts.”
PAC CONFERENCE ADDRESSED ISSUE
At the PAC press conference on Tuesday night, vice president of student development Chris Grace said that efforts to build what he called a convocation center have been hindered by both high costs and uncertainty about where to construct it.
AS is not the only part of campus affected by the lack of space. Sports teams and Chapel Programs are also struggling to find places to host various events.
“In the last six years, Biola has gone to the next level, vibrating with institutes, conferences, and student events — a sign that we are indeed a premier university. The unintended consequence is the lack of event space, and we in Spiritual Development are feeling it, too,” said Todd Pickett, dean of Spiritual Development, in an email. “For instance, it will be difficult this year to find venues for the attendance overflow we inevitably get at the end of the semester. We are working with the university to solve that problem because we don't want to turn students away."
