Purchase College President Thomas Schwarz is feeling “moderately optimistic” about the future of his plans to have a senior community built on campus.
Last year it had passed in the state Senate, but was rejected by the Assembly”™s Higher Education Committee; opponents called it a nonacademic venture.
As for its future this year, Schwarz says, “I don”™t want to predict what the Legislature will do.”
But he remains adamant.
“Eventually this will get done. It”™s too important to me.”
Schwarz”™s proposal involves building a 385-unit retirement community on about 35 acres that are now filled with construction debris from an ill-fated project favored by his predecessor several years back to create a summer home for the New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He said there is another parcel on campus, about 20 to 25 acres in size, which could also be used in conjunction with the project.
He said the retirement community would be a perfect fit for the campus, known far and wide as an “arts college,” a notion Schwarz is trying to change by emphasizing that it”™s also a liberal arts college.
Retirement communities are popping up on campuses nationwide, from The Village at Penn State to Capstone Village at the University of Alabama to Dirigo Pines at the University of Maine.
Schwarz points to examples just miles away in Manhattan.
Fordham University”™s Lincoln Center campus plans to add about 742,500 square feet of residential space in two buildings on the northwest and southwest corners of the campus that would be built by private developers.
Over at Cooper Union, Schwarz said the school had condos built that would support its educational mission.
The residents of the community could serve as mentors bringing an intergenerational learning experience for the students as well as audience members for performing arts, he said. It would also make use of the 60-odd acres now lying dormant.
“Colleges look at land as part of their endowment; it”™s consistent with their mission.”
He adds: “This will get done under my administration.”
Getting the word out
Since he first came on in January 2002 as interim president of the 4,000-student campus, he has accomplished many things including taking the diverse programs and making them more cohesive and focusing more on the liberal arts education.
He refers to the college as a two-fer school, featuring arts and liberal arts.
Schwarz invokes Nelson Rockefeller”™s vision of putting all of the arts and liberal arts resources on one college campus in the hope students in the different disciplines will learn from each other.
Saying most people have seven different jobs in their lifetimes, “students need to be broadly educated; that”™s the strength of liberal arts.”
Schwarz characterized the school as being fluid with an eye to keeping the programs top of the line. To achieve this, he said, the faculty has had retreats to discuss the different aspects and to “take advantage of who we are” by looking at the programs unique to the college.
One of his principal tasks is to make the school more visible. It has long been thought of solely as an arts college. “But we have liberal arts and natural science and a strong pre-med program. And environmental studies,” he said. “My task in Westchester is to get the word out.”
He also wants to make the school of arts better known in New York City, where the competition is tough and crowded ”“ Julliard School, Parsons and Tisch School of the Arts, to name a few.
So he is on the talk circuit, the Rotary meetings, cocktail parties ”“ anything that allows him to promote his school.
Future efforts
Schwarz has made the campus more user-friendly since taking the top post. The Student Services Building has opened and is the new home for Schwarz”™s office along with the registrar, bursar, career counseling and vice president of student affairs.
Across the mall, the library is getting its final redesign touches.
The mall, now a desert of brick and concrete, will be getting a makeover that will include adding some green in the form of shrubbery and trees to “make it uplifting all year round.”
The redesign and reengineering is being funded by a $15 million state appropriation, secured by Westchester”™s state lawmakers.
A 96,000-square-foot, four-story residence hall is completed. After conferring with students, a Starbucks and a convenience store will be established on the first floor of the building that was constructed to meet the growing need for more on-campus housing.
To address global warming issues by lowering and then eventually eliminating campus greenhouse emissions over time, Schwarz signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. He was made aware of the program by Lindsay Randall, a 2007 graduate of Purchase College. For her efforts, she was named the college”™s first environmental sustainability coordinator. She will be working with all the departments, Schwarz said, to develop a plan to reduce the net greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050.
