USD Magazine Summer 2008

[ sy l l abus ] Course: Introduction to American Politics Instructor: Casey Dominguez DESCRIPTION: “What does it mean to you to be a citizen of the Unit- ed States? What are your rights? Your responsibilities? What do you need to know to fulfill those responsibilities? This class will consider these questions as we examine how politics and government in America work.” DOESN’T-BODE-WELL DEPARTMENT: “I hope I don’t fall asleep in this class,” says a student with rumpled bed-head. “I slept through my last class, and now my notebook has all these squiggly lines, like when you fall asleep holding your pen.” BUELLER? BUELLER? Today’s class is built around the problem of get- ting people to participate in politics. When the professor asks, “What’s going on in the news right now?” crickets can be heard chirping. Finally, one student mentions the scandal du jour regarding a certain East Coast governor’s unseemly behavior. Whew. That was a close one. DÉJÁ VU ALL OVER AGAIN: “So, why is participation important?” the instructor asks gamely. The response? Resounding silence and 18 blank faces. Finally a student offers an answer: “We need people to participate in order for democracy to work.” A few minutes later, the Red Bull and coffee appears to kick in, when actual give-and-take occurs between students and teacher, and doesn’t let up for the next 45 minutes. TIME SURE FLIES: One eager student launches into a story but hits a stumbling block. “There was this thing in the car,” she says. “We used it to listen to my grandma’s oral history. I don’t remember what it was called. Some sort of tape I think.”Uh, I’m guessing it was a cassette tape? Good thing class is over, because I have just officially become so decrepit that I need a nap. Immediately. — J.S.

“Students saw the need,” recalls Zackowski. “The commit- tee went out to 35 different meetings, and the students made the presentations. Over the years, a lot of space inside the Hahn University Center was set aside for specific programs and reasons. But a student cen- ter is supposed to be a place where you come for no reason. With this new pavilion, we’re trying to bring that back.” Opening in the fall of 2009, the new Student Life Pavilion will be a campus hub that promises to change the lives Designed by Hom & Goldman Architects, the Pavilion will cost $36 million to build. An estimat- ed $21 million will be covered by general obligation bonds, with the remaining $15 million to be raised by private support in a drive that Cosgrove is com- mitted to. “I’ve been here 35 years, so I’ve made a lot of con- nections with alumni,” he says. At the kickoff, Thelen remarked that, even though he will gradu- ate before the pavilion opens, “I will enjoy it as an alumnus. I’m very excited for future genera- tions of Toreros.” Through dona- tions to the pavilion, he added, “we can set a trend of giving and supporting our university, and leave a lasting legacy here at the University of San Diego.” Darlene Marcos Shiley, chair of the Board of Trustees, appeared at the ceremony in a radiant blue tunic (“I pawed through my clothing this morning looking for Torero blue, and I found it!” she quipped) and summed up the mood of the crowd. “If there’s anything we’ve proved in the last couple of weeks, it’s this: It’s all about heart.” To learnmore and see the photo from the kickoff, go towww.sandiego.edu/ ucexpansion. of every student at the University of San Diego.

ARCHITECTURAL RENDERING COURTESY OF HOM + GOLDMAN ARCHITECTS, PC

Thomas Cosgrove, associate vice president for student affairs and a prime mover behind the capi- tal project. “Students want to see and be seen. The mercado will overlook the main dining area, and the main dining area will pour out onto the plaza mayor . This will be a very excit- ing facility.” Cosgrove and Greg Zackows- ki, executive director of the Hahn University Center, headed up a 14-member committee that began studying the prospects for a new student union in 2004. Enthusiasm for the project was so strong that an April 2005 student referendum to help fund the center through a fee increase won 76 percent of the vote.

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SUMMER 2008