Ups and downs for WU

By Johnathan McFadden

Is it me or does it seem that Winthrop is enduring a constant trial by fire (some pun intended)?

This has truly been a semester for the yearbook (if we had one).

First, we’re hit with news about Phelps being closed down, effective this fall. In the midst of this, we’re battered three times by wintry weather that left us with either ice or snow (still had to go to class with that ice, by the way). Now, the attic of Owens Hall, a relatively new building on campus, catches fire.

Poor Winthrop has been through a lot in the onset of 2010.

As a friend pointed out earlier this week, we only just got to walk on Scholar’s Walk and now it’s off limits.

Some offices and classes have been moved to residence halls, such as Lee Wicker. Some residents who had the convenience of going to class in Owens now have to make the trek to Withers.

The Johnsonian and Roddey McMillan Record were temporarily exiled out of Bancroft and forced to set up shop in Johnson to make deadline.

At least the “higher-ups” are keeping us informed.

The Monday after the fire, I saw two Winthrop ambassadors giving potential students and their parents a tour of the campus.
Let’s examine what they may have seen:

Construction on Bancroft and the DiGiorgio Center, along with a web of yellow guard tape cutting off a good portion of the campus — from Kinard to Bancroft to Owens.

I’m sure that made an impression.

So now, we are in a state of transition. We’ve been broken down, and now we have to build back up.

But maybe not so quickly.

Ten years from now, as I sit on my porch drinking a mug of hot coffee and reading my newspaper, I’ll reflect on my years in college. This particular semester will definitely come to mind. I’ll think of the good…the bad…the downright ugly. Then, I will smile because this semester, thus far, has perhaps been the most memorable for any current Winthrop student.

Never have I prayed for this school more.

Never have I thought the student body, faculty and administration needed to work closer together.

Our campus has been hit hard. Damage has been done, almost repeatedly.

Now is the time for us to bounce back. Now is the time to correct all those mistakes that may have been made in the past and to make this university one of the best again.

A question I posed in a column earlier this semester asked if we should trust our loyal administrative departments to lead us out of despair as a phoenix rising from the ashes.

Well, I’m posing that question again. In my view, we’re halfway there.

We have the flames.

Now, let’s rise together.

Comments? E-mail
mcfaddenj@thejohnsonian.com