I was pleased to read your editorial entitled “Strong Problems” (2/7/02). As both a Drama House resident and board member of COPA (the extracurricular theater group in my day), I spent a tremendous amount of my free time doing theatre under circumstances that were challenging at best and potentially dangerous at worst. I even served on the committee that hired Mervyn Willis to rebuild academic theatre and firmly believe now as then that the time has come for a renewed commitment by the administration to the arts on the River Campus. Do I believe that we will get the premier performing arts center to humble other schools with more well-established programs? No, but even smaller schools like Middlebury College have proved that a well-designed performing arts complex can enhance academic and extracuricular opportunities on campus, as well as serve as a cultural beacon for the community at large. Surely a school of Rochester’s academic and fiscal calibre can lift its arts activities out of ex-dining centers like Todd Theatre. The land occupied by crumbling Strong Auditorium and non-ADA compliant Todd Union could be used in a far more efficient manner if the entire site were redeveloped with the same speed and enthusiasm exhibited just across the Eastman Quad by the new Simon School buildings. Now, I know River Campus theatre, art and even music do not carry the political cache of Rochester’s “core competencies” in engineering, medicine, business and (apparently) sports. I know we have to wait our turn in line. And I’ve spoken to administration officials at countless alumni events who have tossed out whithering large dollar figures that give one pause for thought. But this is not a new problem and things will only get worse. Let’s not be afraid to make a start. If not us, who? If not now, when?
— Adam Konowe ’90
