By Jeremy Fuerte / Staff Writer
Abandoned (Luis Solis / Staff Photographer)
By Jeremy Fuerte / Staff Writer
With the completion of the new Math, Science and Nursing building, the attention of Riverside City College now falls on the old Physical Science and Life Science buildings as the college hopes to renovate them in the future.
While the Physical and Life Science buildings have currently been shut down, they will eventually host the Business and Computer Information Systems programs as well as Student Services according to Norm Godin, vice president of Business Services.
The renovated buildings will have two tiered lecture halls, multiple business and CIS labs and studios as well as faculty offices.
However, as nice as the new buildings may someday become, the project is currently not funded.
“We are waiting for the state to fund the project and because of the state’s current financial situation we aren’t certain when the state will issue new bonds for construction,” Godin said.
Whenever the funding is acquired, it will be through bonds which don’t have any impact on the funding of education and are voter approved.
“The costs in providing instruction are in things like the teacher’s salary where the revenues for that should be the revenues the state generates in the current year and spends in the current year,” Godin said. “It’s two different forms of funding.”
If the state fails to issue bonds for new construction to RCC this year, the next time the state will issue bonds is in 2014.
Instructor Mark Lehr is confident that taxpayers will pass any funding for education or construction purposes related to education.
“The tax payers have been really good at funding and helping schools out, so if they pass anything they’ll pass that and funding for education,” Lehr said. “I just have that feeling.”
Current students have mixed feelings about reconstructing the old building in order to be used for the Business and CIS programs.
“It’s a waste of time,” Christina Fuentes said. “But if they’re going to build a new building I wouldn’t mind that. It would be nice.”
