The Two Universities
All over the University, there is writing inscribed on buildings, sculptures, and message boards. Close to the freshman dorms are the Peter B. Lewis Building and the Mather Dance Center. Furthermore, all the way on South side, there is Fribley, where students can eat in a restaurant type of environment. In addition to the physical writing around campus, there is also writing all over the Case website. On this website, there is information about professors, there are campus maps, and there is information about upcoming Case events. Although the worlds of Case, the physical and virtual world, are very different, the two compliment each other; without one or the other, the University would not be complete.
While walking around campus, I have noticed many different buildings with writing on them. For example, I have several classes in the PBL, or the Peter B. Lewis Building. Even though I am in the building everyday of the week, I do not know why the PBL was built. In addition to the PBL, there is the Mather Dance Center. I see this building almost everyday as well, but I do not know why it was constructed. Both of these buildings have their names by their entrances, but why are these names on the outsides’ of the buildings?
To answer this question, I did some research on the Case website. On the website, I learned about the Mather Dance Center; the center was built in 1909 for the Flora Stone Mather College. At first, the center was designed as a gymnasium, but, later, it was converted to a dance center.
I also looked up information about the Peter B. Lewis building. In 1965, Peter Lewis took over his family’s insurance company. After forty years, Peter Lewis became the Chairman of the Progressive Insurance Company. In 1999, Mr. Lewis gave $36.9 million to Case’s management school; therefore, this why the building bears his name.
Without using the Internet or Case’s website, it would have been difficult to find information about the buildings. I could have gone to the buildings, and picked up information or asked someone who works there, but it would not have been efficient as looking it up on Case’s website. Consequently, Case’s website compliments the physical campus; when I go around campus and look at the buildings and sculptures and the writing that is on them, I can then go to the Case website to look up information about this writing. This connection aligns the two universities. The virtual university holds information about the physical university, while the physical university represents what the virtual university was built upon.
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