The greatest utility

As IU begins its road down a new presidency and expands its desire to transform IU into a research oriented university that will assist students, it has made the decision to demolish Margrave Apartments. The two-story apartment building off of East Third Street was built from 1928 to 1929 and is listed on the Department of Natural Resources 1996 list of Historic Sites and Structures. The announcement of its planned destruction in order to create space for a new IU School of Optometry clinic has raised concerns among the Bloomington Historic Preservation Commission, as in its view yet another historic building (following last years removal of the historic Kappa Sigma building) is being taken from the Bloomington community.\nThe destruction of Margrave Apartments, while possibly saddening for some who see it as a site worth preserving, from an academic and IU community standpoint is the correct decision. Placement of the new clinic, as any construction of new academic facilities, will benefit the IU students of optometry along with the clinics patients.\nFurthermore, it is not as if IU is merely tossing aside its history like a rag doll that a child has outgrown. Rather, Lynn Coyne, the assistant vice president for real estate and economic development at IU, said the University took measures to determine whether Margrave Apartments could be renovated in order to fit the needs of the school. However, it was determined that such a venture was not fiscally possible (quite a statement, given that the new clinic will cost IU about $3 million). Coyne also stated that renovation of academic buildings has been pursued in the past, but that Margrave was not an academic building.\nInstead of worrying about the destruction of an apartment building not yet 80 years old, concentration on the buildings that have been important to a wide array of students throughout their histories should be pursued. For example, the Student Building built in 1906 or the Indiana Memorial Union (its age, not much older than Margrave Apartments, does not explain its exponential utility).\nAccording to The Herald-Times, Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan says there needs to be better communication between IU and the community discussing what buildings are historic. By all means, better communication is always a plus. But at the risk of identifying at least slight hypocrisy, what exactly has a push for economic development of downtown Bloomington resulted in? Noodles & Company on the first floor of the newly reopened, historic Von Lee theater. Mmm, gotta love those noodles.\nThe destruction of Margrave Apartments will result in the betterment of the IU community and increase the potential success of optometry students. The building of the clinic, while maybe (emphasis on maybe) a historic blow to the community, will be far better in the here and now than Margrave Apartments will be. Emphasis on utilizing the space allotted to IU in order to build up the academic state of the University is of utmost importance. Margrave Apartments simply loses out on the basis of academic utility.