By David Calkins
Free-for-all fliers may be a thing of the past in the Jesse Knight Humanities Building, which has for years been the only building on campus that has allowed a liberal display of fliers on its walls.
Since the College of Humanities has been in the process of moving to the newly finished Joseph F. Smith Building, its faculty will no longer have control of the JKHB.
In fact, the JKHB is now called the Jesse Knight Building, according to campus administration.
Plans to remodel the JKHB are underway. If approved, the building?s west annex will become the new home of the University Police. The main building will still be used for classrooms, but without the previous flier privileges, according to campus administration.
?Our stamp of approval isn?t going to mean much once we?re in the new building,? said Karmen Smith, secretary for the dean of the College of Humanities.
Smith said while the college was in the JKHB, they were free to allow students to post almost any kind of flier in the building, a freedom not shared by other buildings on campus.
?People in the humanities are big on expression,? Smith said. ?I?m just not sure the engineering students would post as many fliers as our students do if they had the option. Besides, we felt like it was important to have the awareness .?
Smith said while the JFSB has a few built-in cases for fliers and announcements, it will not be the same thing.
Students who frequent the JKHB are not pleased with the possibility.
?I find out about half of the activities I?m involved in through posters,? said Zach Hutchins, an English major who works in the JKHB Writing Center. ?If they weren?t there, I don?t know if I?d take the time out of my life to seek that info out.?
While Hutchins said banning fliers would be a diminishment of the building?s character, he did acknowledge the fliers? esoteric nature.
?When I was a freshman, I remember looking at the posters and thinking, ?That?s stupid,?? he said. ?It seemed ridiculous that people would plaster the wall with these things.?
For example, there was a rivalry between the Critical Realist Club and the Postmodernist Club, and Hutchins said the fliers became a kind of propaganda in a battle between the two groups.
Once he got into the English major, Hutchins realized the posters appeal to a select group of people.
?It?s a way to communicate among people who know the language,? he said.
The change also creates a rift between teachers and students.
?The new building may smell better, but it seems lifeless in comparison to the JKHB,? said Caroline Drake, an English minor who has had many classes in the JKHB.
?It''s like the teachers have this nice new building where they don''t have to participate with the students as much because they''re far away from any classroom,? Drake said.