Can Berkeley Get Rid of Two Unwanted Buildings?

This article, "No Stirrings of Pride"—subscription or online pass required—is from The Chronicle of Higher Education by Josh Keller. If it interests you and you are attending the society's 42nd annual, international conference and idea marketplace, SCUP–42 in Chicago next week, you may want to note that there are "Campus Heritage" round tables on Monday and Wednesday mornings: Monday's is in the Erie Room at 8:30 am and will be facilitated by former SCUP president Cal Audrain. (Cal will be receiving SCUP's 2007 Distinguished Service Award at this conference.) Wednesday's is in Sheraton IV & V, facilitator to be announced.

Two buildings at the University of California at Berkeley can be seen all the way from San Francisco on a clear day. The first, a tall, granite bell tower called the Campanile, is the visual anchor of the campus and was a favorite subject of Ansel Adams.

The second, Evans Hall, is an imposing concrete structure that most people on the campus would like to see demolished. Campus planners call it a mistake, and students, like me, call it "a fortress" or "a prison." Photographers try to leave it out of their pictures altogether.

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"I'm not sure you could go to the state and say, We want to tear this building down because it's ugly."