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Opening of new arts complex is dawn of new era for WCU, region
With the opening of Western Carolina University’s new Fine and Performing Arts Center this weekend, the institution of higher education that traces its beginnings to a one-room schoolhouse continues to become a major player in the state’s educational arena.
Western is poised to achieve the status its leaders have chased for the past two decades. It now has engineering courses, a technology center, attractive new dorms, a more student-friendly pedestrian-orientetd campus, a new soccer complex ... and a state-of-the art performing auditorium.
The weekend’s events will begin with a sold-out performance by Tonight Show host and comedian Jay Leno. Saturday’s black-tie affair will be followed by a free Sunday-afternoon event that will give Western’s new jewel a chance to shine for the entire community.
Five art exhibits will premiere, and area residents will have a chance to meet the artists and tour the facility during a reception from 1 until 3 p.m. One of the artists to be featured is longtime Ashe Settlement-area resident Tim Jacobs, who directed WCU’s University Center for at least two decades before returning to school to earn his master’s in 1999.
We are delighted to see the much-needed campus improvements Tar Heel residents approved in the 2000 higher education bond referendum reaching fruition at Western. From its days as Cullowhee Normal through its years as Western Carolina Teachers College and then Western Carolina College, Western Carolina University has met the educational needs of mountain young people. It’s gratifying to see that in these days of rapidly-expanding horizons that now reach around the globe and into cyberspace, WCU leaders continue to provide the region’s brightest minds with the tools and facilities they need to gain the skills required to compete in today’s world.
We trust that as WCU grows and prospers those charged with charting the university’s course will maintain its traditional goals and historical ties with the community that has nurtured it through the years. To put it more plainly, we hope WCU “won’t get above its raisin’” and start putting on airs and such. We all need the advances new technology and new buildings can bring, but we also need Mountain Heritage Day and the community spirit it fosters.
On this happy occasion, we’d like to toast the little school founded 116 years ago in the Valley of the Lilies: May her future be as bright and meaningful as her past.
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