The plan to build a $48 million Liberal Arts building has sparked fierce competition and debate from students, many of which have taken matters into their own hands.
From Facebook groups to Student Senate bills, the opposition has taken on many forms, with the same message: save the grassy knoll.
The grassy knoll, a green space located across from the Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, is the proposed site for the building.
Creator of the Facebook group "Save Our Grassy Knoll" Tyler Reed said he was shocked when he heard of the location plans. It didn't take long for him to decide to do something about it.
"I felt really passionate to try and preserve that space," said Reed, a senior landscape architecture major. "[Everyone in the studio] was all just very confused and very angered over the fact that the building was going to be built there; so that night I decided to make a Facebook group to see how much support the grassy knoll would get."
So far the group has garnered nearly 4,000 members, something Reed never expected.
"I was really surprised there was so much support for it," Reed said. "From talking to people from all different majors I get a sense that this is a really important space for a lot of people."
The Student Senate also has picked up on the student sentiment. Sen. Scott Bowen, a senior chemical engineering major, introduced the Green Space Bill at the previous week's Senate meeting calling for a preservation of the grassy knoll.
"The bill doesn't necessarily oppose the creation of the proposed $48 million building; it supports the initiative to find an alternative place to build the building," said Speaker pro tempore Kyle Womack, sophomore political science major.
The proposal was referred to the Student Services committee, who will discuss the legislation and make sure it meets the requirements to be a bill at the meeting Wednesday.
Once approved, the bill will be brought back on the floor to be voted on at the Student Senate meeting Tuesday.
"If it passes it the vote essentially becomes student opinion, which is our definition of 'law,' and the executive team would then execute it," Womack said. "They would begin lobbying the administration, [by] setting up meetings discussing alternative locations to build the building."
Not all students oppose the building plans; however, even an opposition to the opposition has arisen.
Junior theater arts major Stacey Thompson created a competing Facebook group titled "[****] the Grassy Knoll, We Want Our Building!"
Although the group first started out as a joke protesting the people against the building, supporters Thompson didn't know soon started joining, he said.
Thompson said the proposed building should go on as planned. "It's a prime spot for a much deserved building closer to our two theatres than other sites," Thompson said. "I believe the performance studies department is rapidly expanding and needs this building. I really feel this is the best location for that growth to occur. It is hardly ever used. The one time I've seen it there was no one there. You'll still have Simpson."
Reed believes its more than just a matter of student opinion, it undermines the Campus Master Plan, set forth in 2004 regarding how Texas A&M will work to will accomplish the goals of Vision 2020.
Policy 4 of the Campus Master Plan states "The University will protect existing open spaces by adopting a permanent Green Reserve as identified in the Long Range Plan. The Reserve will remain free of major building development."
"When considering this, the Grassy Knoll is simply not an option for the new building," Reed said.
Alternative sites he suggests include West Campus or the parking lot known as "the Grove."
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