Who Supports Question 3?
Thank you, Rhode Island!
Who Supports Question 3?
Meet Stitch, a Schnauzer who takes his walks from his condo at the Westin each night, advertising support for Question 3.
Nancy Carriuolo, president of Rhode Island College, thanked the voters of the state this evening for their overwhelming support of a bond referendum question, which will allocate funds for the college.
Rhode Island College was on the ballot with a referendum that will provide $50 million in renovation-construction funds for three of the college's buildings. The buildings include two of RIC's oldest and the largest classroom buildings - where all 8,000 students take one or more classes - and a portion of the building devoted to the nursing program.
Carriuolo noted that the beneficiaries of the passage of this bond will be the students at the college. “Who will be served? The future nurses, teachers, social workers, artists, managers, lawyers, and other leaders in Rhode Island who attend Rhode Island College,” Carriuolo said. “In all, 86 percent of RIC students are Rhode Islanders at the undergraduate level, and 92 percent at the graduate level. In addition, the construction trades will also be served by adding hundreds of jobs for Rhode Islanders. This is a victory for all Rhode Islanders and on behalf of the faculty, staff and students at Rhode Island College – ‘Thank you, Rhode Island!’ ”
Classrooms will be equipped with mobile, customizable student seating to foster the type of collaborative learning that is now standard in most workplaces. This seating, in conjunction with full audio/visual capabilities, will give the professors the tools they need to teach interactively and creatively. While these renovations will benefit all students, they will also improve building accessibility for individuals with disabilities.
Each building serves large numbers of RIC's undergraduates with Rhode Islanders being 86-90 percent of the college’s population. A study by the Independent Association of Schools and Colleges indicated RIC graduates stay in RI more than any other institution producing bachelor’s degrees. RIC graduates become teachers, social workers, nurses, artists, government leaders, and businesspeople in our state. RIC has 32,000 alums in RI. Investing in RIC is investing in Rhode Island.
Workers and tradespeople will be put to work on these projects, which are designed to protect the state’s assets.
Renovating three aging buildings, rather than building new structures, is cost effective: three of the largest classroom buildings on campus will be upgraded for another fifty years at a cost that is less than constructing buildings of similar scope. The environment will also be safer and more energy efficient.