Creative Campus

UA ACCEPTING COMMENTS ON FOSTER AUDITORIUM PLAZA RENOVATION — The University of Alabama is soliciting feedback from the community on the concept of a plaza at Foster Auditorium that will be designed to commemorate the events surrounding the “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door.” People can share their comments at open meetings on Tuesday, Nov. 24, and Monday, Nov. 30, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in Room 127 of the Biology Building on campus. In addition, online comments can be made through Jan. 15, 2010, by visiting the UA Web site at http://www.ua.edu and clicking on “Foster Auditorium Plaza Renovation” under Quick Links at the bottom of the page. The Web site also offers an opportunity to share personal stories or memories of Foster Auditorium.

One of many historic sites on the UA campus, Foster Auditorium has hosted events ranging from a women’s conference featuring Lady Bird Johnson to concerts by James Brown, the Fontaine Sisters, and the Navy Band to fraternity and sorority formals, student registration and graduation. Many remember it as the location where former Alabama Gov. George Wallace stood in the doorway in his unsuccessful attempt to block African-American students Vivian Malone Jones and James Hood from registering at the University on June 11, 1963.

Dating back to the 2007 Creative Campus collaboration with violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain and the Huxford Symphony Orchestra, Creative Campus has sought to provide an opportunity for students and the community to learn more about the building and engage in conversations about its future. The conversation gained new momentum on October 14, 2008 when the Creative Campus team had an opportunity to sit down with John Cimino and representatives from Creative Leaps International during their visit to campus presented by the College of Arts and Sciences. From the interactive discussion grew a desire to raise awareness of the building's importance and to generate intelligent conversation about the future of the building's use. Creative Campus interns began formulating plans with a desire to awaken the student body with ideas of respectful recognition as well as applauding societal progress.

Creative Campus interns Joseph Seals, Angelica Agee, and Tiffany Watson began working on plans to highlight Foster Auditorium. Creative Campus collaborated with the SGA to plan Foster Auditorium Awareness Week April 6-10. An information table was set up in the Ferguson Center to kick off Foster Week events on April 1, 2009. The purpose of the table was an opportunity to share with students to gain information and to submit questions for a panelist forum that was held later in the week long celebration. The final event was a forum held at the Ferguson Center Ballroom at 7:00 pm on April 6, 2009. The Past, Present, and Future Forum was an opportunity for students and community members alike to engage in discussion with panelists such as Glenda Guyton Former UA Assistant Dean of Women; SGA representatives: Kendra Key, Cason Kirby, Steven Oliver; Joyce Lamont Professor Emeritus and past curator of the Hoole Special Collections Library; and UA alumna Candice Portis. Panelists were engaging and informative, enlightening the audience. They too enjoyed the merging of the past with the present. “Foster has always been a wonderful part of the university’s history,” said retired professor Joyce Lamont. “It’s like a family tree. We all come together through it.” The week long series of events had more than two hundred and fifty people in attendance.

Barrett Guyton, sophomore Creative Campus intern, served as moderator for the Foster forum. This experience left him feeling enlightened and positive with the turnout and impact the Foster project had on campus. "It left me feeling very hopeful for the future of Foster Auditorium," said Guyton. "The attendees and panelists created a very positive and respectful environment that emphasized both the historical importance of the building as well as an education for others to know the multitude of ways Foster served UA."

Creative Campus launched a Web site, www.TalkAboutFoster.com in hopes to prompt further conversation. The site is updated regularly with a new question 'fostering' discussion.

In the weeks following Foster Week, UA administration released plans to restore Foster Auditorium to its original use as an athletic facility.

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