With many buildings at Citrus currently needing only cosmetic attention, the Liberal Arts building has the most structural wear and tear. Since it holds the most classes, it should be the first building the school works on while remodeling and improving the campus.
Measure Y was passed in the November election and Citrus College will be receiving a $298 million bond allocated for improvements throughout the school for campus needs— but why start with the LB building?
Citrus College will serve about 20,000 students annually, with 70% of them commuter students when in-person classes go back into session, according to the 2020-2030 Educational and Facilities Master Plan (EFMP).
With the population growing every day in the local cities that these students are traveling from, what will get the students excited to come back to campus?
Citrus needs to be making sure each of its students are being helped out when they are safely transitioning to in-person classes and allowed back.
The EFMP states the school’s idea for all buildings is to completely reshape the traditional classroom setting into more of a teaching and learning space.
New classrooms will provide new functions with technology for professors to utilize to improve student interaction and change how lectures are taught.
The LB building is three stories and the EFMP says it currently holds 25 classrooms, more than any other building on campus.
This is one of the most used buildings for the majority of Citrus’ general education classes, so most students who have come in contact with LB have seen it deteriorate over its many years of use.
With its last major renovation having occurred in 1969, the LB building is long overdue for a full remodel.
Citrus’s Bond Committee page on the campus website says that most of the larger buildings on campus like the brand new Virtual Arts building were built or renovated when the Measure G bond was approved in 2004.
This bond gave $121 million to the campus to use on renovations such as rebuilding the VA building, the Educational Development Center and the Campus Center, but the LB building was overlooked.
Fixing up the LB building will keep the future students safe from the building itself. Currently, its bathrooms are out of code compliance, cracks are in the slab of the building, the old rooftops are leaking and it even has rebar showing on some sides.
Along with major code violations, in my experience, some classrooms in the building never had working heat or air conditioning while others were just straight up dirty. Many had old class equipment that never seemed to turn on when the professor needed it to.
New technology would increase a professor’s ability to safely guide students to meet their educational goals. Prioritizing this remodel will inspire students to get out of their pajamas and back into the classrooms.
