DePaul Students, Faculty Speak Out Against Motor Row Arena

Rendering of the new (and approved)
DePaul Basketball Arena - via Chicago Tribune

More news about the proposed DePaul arena in Motor Row.  This time, students and faculty are speaking up against the proposal (via Gapers Block):

DePaul University student activists are trying to halt the new $173 million basketball arena construction project, which is currently set to begin later this year. 

The student organization, the Contingent for an Alternatively Funded Arena, has been working since the plan to build an arena was announced in May, approximately a week after 54 Chicago Public Schools were voted be shut down.

Separately, the faculty is arguing the money would be better used for something else:

Tom Mondschean, a professor of economics at DePaul, released a memo to all faculty council members expressing the proposal from a financial perspective. The memo was reviewed by central administration before it was sent out.  

In a letter signed by several faculty, it was suggested that the $70 million could be better used in other areas such as higher financial aid for students. We should be careful to distinguish between one-time purchases such as this proposal and annual expenditures such as student financial aid. It is not a fair comparison since we would not use long-term capital investments to fund operating expenses (at least I hope not).

The drama and debate continues.