The anticipated move from the Tech building and the third floor of Tucker Hall is one that has been long overdue for graphic and journalism students .
The building of the new journalism and graphic communication school will begin in mid-March and completion is expected in July 2003.
This means that the classes of 2004 and 2005, currently sophomores and freshmen, will be the first to use it.
However, journalism students of all classifications are glad that the new building is under way.
“A new building would mean new opportunities,” said RaShani Boynton, 21, a junior photography student from Detroit. Boynton spoke as a student representative during the ceremony. “We’ll be able to prosper because we’ll have more materials.”
“Tucker Hall is not the most technologically updated building there is,” said former Famuan editor-in-chief Rachel Rique. “The building will make it a lot easier for print, broadcast and graphic communications to work together.”
Samantha Luck, 18, a freshman newspaper journalism student from Washington, said a new building will offer productivity for the student media.
“It seems like a step up from where we were before,” she said. Luck also said that although this is her first year, a journalism building should have been on the campus a long time ago. She said that the new building is progress for the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication and an accomplishment.
Danielle Hines, 19, a sophomore public relations student from Oxon Hill, Md., said the new building signals recognition of the SJGC.
“It makes a statement that the journalism department and FAM are taking into consideration that the population of the school isn’t what it was 20 or 30 years ago,” she said. “They’re acknowledging the changes that are occurring and realizing that students need to learn these things to be able keep up with everyone else.”
Ronnie Jones, 19, a sophomore broadcast journalism