With Spring Quarter winding down, Buckeyes are gearing up for the many changes being thrown our way in the months to come. On the horizon we have semesters, privatized parking, a revamped football program and a recently created South Oval Beach Twitter account. A few short weeks ago, all of that sounded like a little too much change for my liking. However, word on the street is that the university is throwing another curve ball our way. They’re renaming the Science and Engineering Library.
My first thought was why? Why would the SEL need to be renamed? Why is this important, why are we wasting time doing it and why should I care? I’m only going to be here another two years, and I can almost guarantee that unless they name it the Terrelle Pryor Library of Excellence (not to be confused with Prior Hall, the Health Sciences Library. Not named after you, Terrelle), I’ll be calling it the SEL until graduation day.
Then I realized something else. Why is the SEL being gifted another name when its neighbor, 209 W. 18th Ave. EA Building doesn’t have one at all? Right next door, the poor neglected 209 W. 18th Ave. building has been ignored for too long, and I think this university is overdue for a redistribution of names.
Just to be clear, the building too-indie-to-name is mostly two lecture halls and a few classrooms. Maybe you’ve never heard of it, but it’s crammed between the SEL and the Mathematics Tower. You might have had a statistics class you didn’t bother to go to in there.
I sat down with Carol Diedrichs, director of university libraries, to talk about this injustice.
“I don’t even know anything about that building at all,” she said, of poor 209 W. 18th Ave. “I don’t know why that building is not named.”
I had a hard time tracking someone down to defend the neglected building, but finally I was able to get a hold of the main authority for the building: the mayor of 209 W. 18th on Foursquare.
Angie Remley, full-time mayor and third-year in communication, said she doesn’t see the lack of a name as a hinder to its daily operations.
“They can’t come up with a name that is worthy enough,” Remley said.
Remley plans to use her status as mayor to elevate her career prospects and to hopefully draw more attention to the cause of nameless-building awareness.
“I think such an accomplishment speaks to the commitment and dedication I have to being excellent. I see this as a stepping stone to my many political aspirations,” Remley said. “I think this will be viewed as a career-defining moment.”
With Remley’s full endorsement and my commitment to being an advocate for the equal naming of all buildings, I dug a little deeper to get the real meaning behind the renaming of the SEL.
“We don’t think the science and engineering name is very reflective of the people who use the building,” Diedrichs said.
I have to admit I think she’s right. I don’t see a lot of science and engineering going on there, mostly just a 30-person line for an afternoon smoothie and some jerk trying to print a novel five minutes before class starts. If, for some reason, they decide not to name it after Pryor, I think they should rename it “Standing Enraged in Line,” SEL for short.
While no one will openly admit that the 209 W. 18th Ave. is the redheaded stepchild of North Campus academics and that Mom really does love him least, it’s clear to me that there needs to be some sort of intervention here. Students, staff, any lover of the underdog, this is your call to action. Please start submitting your suggestions for the naming of 209 W. 18th Ave. to anyone and everyone you think will listen, which is actually the Ohio State Board of Trustees because they approve all building names. We will not be moved.
