When the fences around the University of New Mexico fell Duck On August 4, the students expected the return of a refreshing campus. The very missing Duck pond was a place where the students could breathe, study and observe the ducks and turtles. Instead, what the students found looked less like an oasis and more like a set of the Cold War.
The newly renovated pond does not look like a sanctuary. It looks like brutalist architecture in miniature. Strong concrete limits, hard angles and the deletion of the natural river have the room cold and undesirable. What was once a green, organic heart of the campus life now feels more like a monument to efficiency and bureaucracy as beautiful and community.
Several long -term features are missing: trees that shade the students and hammocks alike; Benches and chairs that made the pond into a social center were reduced. Ducks were moved to the UNM championship golf course during the construction, and the turtles will not return. Please bring my turtles back.
It is true that some changes are better. Rosie Dudley, director of Campus capital and spatial planning, said in A UNM Newsroom Story From October 2024 that “the duck pond has been a popular and recognized destination on the Central Campus of the UN” and “urgently has to be restored in order to improve and maintain the environmental health of the pond and the surrounding landscape”.
Michael Pierce, a UNM project and tree manager, told the Daily lobo In June, which improved the lighting and a security shelf to help people fall into the ponds and ada-compliant paths, were added.
Do you have to be important and necessary, do you have to come at the expense of the character of the pond? Could trees, seating and wild animals be preserved instead of being minimized?
This is not the first time that the campus aesthetics have come into conflict with feelings of student. When the center of the universe sculpture was installed outside the Zimmerman library for the first time, according to Dorn it was mocked in the side, so UNM Newsroom. Over time, however, the students accepted it to accept it – some even hug their quirky presence. However, the duck pond is different. It was not an abstract installation or a piece of conversation. It was a lively, breathing part of the campus culture, and its redesign has withdrawn this character.
The duck pond has never been a pleasant place to hit through when we go into class like the center of the universe. The students enjoyed the room by spreading to the grass, families fed their ducks and shooting hikers, who traveled dangerously between his trees. It was chaotic, soft and lively. Now the room feels sterile, better for a military parade than for frisbees and a relaxing conversation.
The duck pond was not perfect before, but it was us. Now it feels more about architectural plans than the students who have built their memories about it.
We deserve a campus that inspires us – not one who gives us the feeling of living in the shade of concrete walls. The ducks may not mind, but for the rest of us the pond has lost its soul. The concrete of the pond can keep water – but it will not keep our tears.
Nate Bernard is the managing editor for the Daily Lobo. It can be reached at administrungs@dailylobo.com or X @Nabernard14
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Nate Bernard is the managing editor for the Daily Lobo. It can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on X @Nabernard14