Flagler students speak out about communication building

By Kayla Ward | gargoyle@flagler.edu

For Flagler College junior Autumn Roth, the communication building is just not suitable for the hands-on learning of communication majors.

“I’m always in that building and it’s just so small and rundown,” Roth said.

The old building is home to Flagler’s radio station, WFCF, and has one classroom, a few faculty offices and a small television production room. The television production room doubles as a classroom but due to the lack of space, there are no desks.

“The ladies’ room has a window that is about to fall out due to termite damage, and we have limited restroom facilities for both men and women,” said Tracy Halcomb, the head of the communication department.

Communication is one of the top three majors at Flagler College, the other two are business administration and education.

“Currently we have 450 [communication] majors and minors so I would say no, it doesn’t accommodate our numbers,” said Halcomb.

According to the Flagler College 2010-2011 handbook, the Communication major “prepares students to both understand and enter careers in mass media, including radio, television, newspapers, magazines and publications on the World Wide Web.” The major provides students with an opportunity to get a hands-on experience in the media through the use of different technology.

Brittany Hall, also a junior, feels that the communication building is too small and not up to date with current technology trends.

“I really would like to see Flagler give some money to the communication department to update the equipment and maybe even give us a new, state-of-the-art building. With so many communication majors, it is necessary to update and expand the building,” she said.

Halcomb has high hopes that the current communication building will one day be replaced.

“We have had construction plans for this new communication complex since 2007 and I think they could still work with a few modifications.  We need a specific type of structure with 12-15 foot ceilings for lighting grids, camera cranes, radio studio space and even some space for the Gargoyle lab,” she said.

Halcomb has toyed with the idea of having the communication building built near the athletic field where they could stream sporting events online.

“I am confident that we will get a new communication building or space in a new classroom building in the near future,” she said.