WSU $900,000 fountain stirs up protest

Calley Hair | Washington State University

As Washington State University looks to commemorate a milestone with a $900,000 fountain, some students feel that the money should flow elsewhere.

“I agree completely that 125 years of higher education should definitely be celebrated,” says Christopher Gambino, a graduate student protesting the project. “But I cannot agree with pooling resources together to fund a fountain.”

Along with celebrating the 125th anniversary of WSU, the construction of the fountain marks the end of The Campaign, a decade-long fundraising project to raise $1 billion for university research. WSU President Elson S. Floyd plans to complete the fountain in September 2015.

“It’s really not so much a fountain as a commemoration of this Campaign for Washington State University,” says John Gardner, CEO of the WSU Foundation.

According to Gardner, the funds are coming from private donors, primarily those who contributed with the intent of building a fountain.

Gambino first heard about the venture in October through his seat on the Presidential Student Advisory Board (PSAB). He met with the WSU Environmental Health and Safety Department, hoping to involve students and faculty in the construction and “get students practical application of their education.”

That is, until he saw the price tag.

“That $900,000 can fund 80 full (tuition-only) scholarships,” Gambino says. “I would really, really hope the student body would rather see friends and family live their dreams out of coming to WSU rather than having a fountain on campus.”

For now, Gambino says that his main goal is just getting the word out.

“No student is really privy to this information, nor do they have a say in it,” Gambino said. “It’s pretty difficult to find. You can’t Google it.”



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Cynthia Arbour, the lead engineer on the project, says the university does not plan on involving faculty or students in the project’s construction and instead will put the project up for public bid as required by Washington State law.

“It doesn’t actually go out to bid until the design from the architect is approved,” Gardner says, adding that the current design is in preliminary stages. ZGF Architecture, who also designed a fountain for the WSU satellite campus in Vancouver, Wash., will submit a second draft of designs to the WSU Foundation later this week.

The plans for the fountain include using as many natural materials as possible to reflect WSU’s heritage as a land-grant university, according to the presentation Arbour and her team gave to the PSAB. President Floyd specifically requested a fountain to celebrate the end of The Campaign as a nod to the importance of water to the semi-arid climate of the inland Northwest. As the climate is too cold during winter to keep water running, the fountain will become a walkable plaza during colder months.

The estimated budget is a “tentative” figure as the project may end up costing less than that amount, Gardner said.

The $900,000 estimate includes the design, construction and start-up costs of the fountain, Arbour says, adding that the price doesn’t include long-term repairs, security or utility expenses.

“We will probably start some of the initial utility work in April, but the majority of the actual fountain installation will probably happen starting in May,” Arbour said.

As of yet, WSU has not put out a press release regarding the upcoming project. Trevor Durham, director of marketing and communication for the WSU Foundation, said the department will probably start sending out invitations to the unveiling of the fountain this summer.

While Gambino doesn’t expect to stop the construction of the fountain, he said hopes to educate as many students as possible about the project and its cost.

“I just want the student body to understand what’s going on behind the scenes,” Gambino says.



Calley Hair is a student at Washington State University and a spring 2015 Collegiate Correspondent.

This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.