One of the University of Alabama’s jack-of-all-trade buildings, B.B. Comer Hall, will soon be adding yet another hat to its rack full of responsibilities, with construction of the new Veterans Center in the building’s basement projected for completion by the beginning of the summer semester.
“We actually started demolition in November,” said David Blair, director of Veteran and Military Affairs. “The basement’s all gutted out now, and we’ve been approved for the build process, so we’re hoping for the center to be ready to go by the summer session.”
Blair said over 850 veterans and dependents of veterans are registered members of the University community. He believes the Veterans Center is a crucial step in making the necessary services available to students with military backgrounds.
The facilities will include a lounge area, administrative offices and a computer lab, Blair said.
Sgt. Jordan Carpenter, a junior majoring in environmental science and the vice president of the Campus Veterans Association, said the computer lab will not only serve as a homework resource, but will also provide tools necessary for some veterans to fulfill sustained career obligations.
“A lot of us are still in the military reserves, and we still have requirements for our job that are unique,” Carpenter said. “We have to regularly log into a system with special identification cards, and the computers on campus currently don’t have the necessary reader. It takes a long time and is a big hassle without the reader.”
Staff Sgt. Will Suclupe, a recent UA graduate who served as president of the CVA last semester, stressed the importance of the Center’s potential to make assistance services that have previously been available more accessible.
“We’ve been calling it a one-stop shop, and that’s really what it is,” he said. “Anything to help ease the transition from military to student life will be available in this new, central location.”
Both Suclupe and Carpenter consider veteran students “different than any other group on campus,” one that shares strong bonds and a strong work ethic.
“Military students are really an alternative demographic. We’re a diverse group bound by shared experiences,” Carpenter said. “And we make great students – studies show that veterans have higher average GPAs than other students.”
Carpenter deemed the approaching completion of the Center a major requisite for bringing more members of this unique demographic to the University, a group that will display a measured increase currently and in upcoming years.
“There was a swelling of the military from 2001 to 2004, and now a lot of those guys are getting out and coming to school on the G.I. Bill,” he said. “Every school around the country is experiencing a growth of military students, and our goal is to make the University an attractive place for veterans.”
Blair is optimistic about the future of his program and the students it serves. Blair’s department, a division of Student Affairs, is a relatively new one, as he came to the University during the fall semester to head the freshly minted initiative. Originally a one-man operation in the Ferguson Center, he is now planning new hires to staff the Center, including an assistant director and programs director.
Suclupe shares Blair’s positive outlook.
“The University is definitely heading in the right direction,” he said. “We need to continue to bring veterans to UA and support them when they get here.”
