Changes coming to UWF, Good or Bad

For years, the University of West Florida has been home to miles of nature preserves and wildlife sanctuaries, but plans for the near future may replace that land with new buildings, parking lots, and even a golf course.

The Campus Master Plan, revealed last year, has in place the complete removal of the Baars-Firestone wildlife sanctuary, located on the East side of campus. The sanctuary is home to, among other species, at least two bald eagles and multiple gopher tortoises, both of which have been listed on the threatened species list at least once within the last 10 years.

The number of students at the university is growing by the thousands, and the master plan is an effort to accommodate the number of students the school will have in the future. The plan adds a football stadium, a new student union, and reroutes the road currently running through campus. Also additions to the on campus housing includes, Greek housing, married student housing, and many other multi-purpose residence halls to add to the number of beds that are currently available on campus.

“Our school is growing, and our Greek life needs to grow too! In order to get here, the all-Greek GPA needs to be above the all-student GPA, then, the people will come,” said Kevin Bailey, Ph.D., UWF Vice President of Student Affairs, at a leadership conference for Greek students. The students roared with excitement, and vowed to get their grades as high as possible.

“Greek housing would be an awesome addition to this campus and I’m looking forward to it,” said Michael Solomon, UWF Sophomore and fraternity member. “I think it is exactly what the school needs to be in the same category as all of the other big schools in the state. They all have fraternity and sorority houses.”

Eagle's nest located in the Baars-Firestone sanctuary 

According to the Student Environmental ActionSociety, a UWF student organization, the wildlife sanctuary spans over 146 acres. If the area is to be cleared, it would make room for plenty of buildings and parking lots to satisfy the school, but is it worth it to ruin the land?

“This sanctuary is home to so many species of animals, which will now be homeless. It will drive them away, and who knows if they will find somewhere to go,” said Julie Schulz, an Environmental Specialist. “The university will physically have to go in, remove, and relocate most of these animals, which is another added expense.”

The campus has already started the removal of trees around the campus.

“The area near the back entrance of the campus was cleared a while ago, but there hasn’t been any construction, I’m not sure why they did that,” said Lauren Tannenbaum, a sophomore at UWF.

The school also cleared a large amount of land near the intramural fields, an area which used to be surrounded by trees, is now completely visible from the main road.

The master plan is a multi-part plan which will drastically change the school. The question is, though, will the technological and building growth be worth the devastating changes that will result to the campus environment.