April 15, 2013
Revised survey regarding having a University Club
Faculty Senate's Committee on University Planning, or FSCOUP, is exploring the potential of a University Club to serve the K-State community as an amenity and to provide an intellectual commons. The origin for this suggestion was action item number five in the 2025 report from Theme 6: Facilities and Infrastructure. This then is our follow through.
Faculty Senate’s Committee on University Planning and I hesitate to be more specific, since any actual planning must come after a determination of desire. It is not our intention or place to imagine for you. To say too much is to ask you to affirm a specific institution instead of suggesting ideas of a place to meet. I can anticipate that such a club will provide an environment for the kind of dynamic social exchange that fosters discourse, friendships, teamwork and collegiality.
A University Club can unfold from chance meetings around food and drink, to scheduled presentations or seminars for small advanced audiences. Making it an amenity for ourselves may assist in recruitment and retention. A preliminary investigation shows our peer institutions are split on whether or not their institutions have a faculty club or reasonable facsimile. Please understand that this is a faculty and staff initiative, by faculty and staff for faculty and staff and is outside administrative purview. I imagine that our University Club – however we name it, organize it or fund it – stands independently.
Herewith, is a second posting of our survey. At the request of the Faculty Senate, I pulled the first survey to insert a "yes or no question" at the beginning to query whether people think a K-State University Club is a good idea or not. We will keep the original data separate but it is still useful, since those early respondents were able to express their opinions — positively or negatively — without a direct question.
The goals of this straw poll are to ascertain:
1) Is a University Club – in whatever form it might take – a viable and desirable amenity for our community? Something we might do for and with one another?
2) If we have such a club or institution what form shall it take? What might some general characteristics be for membership, costs, location, etc.?
There will be a survey instrument up online at https://surveys.ksu.edu/TS?offeringId=207785 for the next couple of weeks. Please take a few minutes to give us your pro and con opinions on whether or not K-State unclassified employees, classified employees and faculty might pursue a University Club and its possible form.
Bob Condia, AIA
Chair, FSCOUP