kirick@mavs.coloradomesa.edu

CMU will soon have another academic building to house the ever-growing student population. ACB II, the future home of the Languages, Literature and Mass Communication department, is set to open for the fall semester of 2014.

“We were out of a variety of different types of space,” CMU President Tim Foster said. “We need more classrooms and faculty offices.”

Foster explained that the project involves at least two years of brainstorming.

“We’ve seen it coming,” Foster said. “We’ve been working on securing a large part of the funding.”

Foster said the administration did not want to raise student fees to pay for the $20 million project. Instead, the money will come from a variety of places. The city of Grand Junction is giving $7 million and Mesa County is giving $3 million to the project. The balance, President Foster said, will either come from CMU funding or fundraising.

“Members of the administration contacted us in expressing the need for addition classroom space, and leaders of ASG, along with the president of SAAC, have been a part of a number of the planning meetings that took place last week,” ASG President Telbe Storbeck said.

Storbeck said that student input was important in the building process.

“There was a student session held on Monday, where over 20 students were given the chance to voice their opinions on a wide range of topics, from building placement to floor layouts and so on,” Storbeck said.

In the future, Storbeck says there will be more opportunities for students to get involved in the planning and building, but there are no set dates yet.

The new building will be located where the current commuter parking lot is across from Monument Hall.