How ‘entertaining’ is Winthrop’s campus?

By Joshua Johnson
johnsonj@mytjnow.com

August 2010 brought on line to Winthrop’s continuously developing building projects, the opening of the DiGiorgio Campus Center (DIGS).

The center, named for the university’s current president, replaced Dinkins Student Union, located on Oakland Avenue, as what is supposed to be the new hub for students to gather, work and be entertained.  

Even with a game area including pool, foosball and ping pong tables, Xboxes, and televisions; a 224 seat theater that plays current movies weekly; “The Edge” which has a nightclub-type feel integrated into the food court area; some students question DIGS ability to meet entertainment needs.

DIGS has been described as the, “heart of campus,” but based upon the observations of some students, the campus loses its beat on the weekends, and a pulse is sometimes hardly attainable during the week.

Kierra Landrum, former resident assistant and senior psychology major, said that working in the predominately freshmen Richardson Hall last year she did not see a great usage of DIGS by the students. 

“I don’t know of any of my residents that chose to go there on the weekends unless they happened to be here and they played a movie they liked,” Landrum said. “It’s very nice, but it’s not over the top exciting.”  

Landrum noted that it seemed most residents went to Charlotte, other schools or home on the weekends.

While tournaments may be a possibility, needing something new may entail using The Edge or other parts of the facility to host more popular acts. There may be some area of difficulty, as it was reported in the March 9 issue of The Johnsonian that the entertainment budget for DiGiorgio Student Union (DSU), formerly Dinkins Student Union, has not increased in over 15 years. 

Boyd Jones, University Programs Director, zoomed out and looked at the factors that make students more prone to find other places to be entertained as opposed to that which is available to them on campus. 

He made the point that Charlotte is a city that booms with entertainment and activities.  

“People will go to Charlotte to see an act before they would come to Rock Hill,” he said.  He pointed out that it’s not necessarily anything that the school is doing wrong in the way of programming, but that at the base of all things, location counts.  

Jones said there has not been a particular increase in DSU events since most things have become centralized at the campus center, but “all of the space we have to use is wonderful.”  At that time, there was actually a pottery making event going on in the lobby area beside the concourse.  

According to an analysis of the center’s usage, released by DIGS director Alicia Marstall, the center received 1122 space requests in the course of the 2010-2011 academic year, which included requests for space on the campus green, concourse and Scholars Walk, as well as rooms within the actual facility.  The greatest amounts of requests was made for large meeting rooms which totaled 735; small meeting rooms came in second with 405 requests.  The smallest amount of requests was made for The Edge, totaling 55.  Dina’s Place, the theater, received 144 requests, while outside spaces received 143 requests.  Other areas, including the ballroom, lobbies and room 114 (the fishbowl), round out requests.

However, the analysis also added, “The recreational and gaming equipment available to check out and use at the Information Services Desk evolved as the year went on.”  

“Initially, we offered Pool, Ping Pong and Foosball available to be checked out,” Marstall said.  “Based on customer feedback and requests, we added video game equipment (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii) and an assortment of games.  As the demand for video gaming increased in the Spring semester, students signed up for a GameFly Membership Account to give users of the Campus Center the flexibility to have all the latest games currently out for a small monthly fee.”

As Winthrop continues to develop, perhaps the vision for DIGS as the “heartbeat of campus” will become more evident to pessimistic students.