by Kent Jennings Brockwell
Staff Writer
With about 100 more students enrolled than last year, the hallways at Florida Coastal School of Law’s Beach Boulevard campus seemed a little smaller when new and returning law students began classes a few weeks ago.
The hallways seemed even smaller after students found a new message from FCSL dean Peter Goplerud in their e-mails.
On Aug. 22, Goplerud sent a welcome-back-to-school e-mail to the entire student body. The e-mail included congratulations to the school’s championship moot court team, information about an upcoming reception and lots of information about the school’s new campus, including a possible delayed timeline for the move-in date.
Though earlier reports said the school would be moved to its new, much larger Baypine Road facility by January, Goplerud’s e-mail said the move in could be pushed back a few months.
“Our goal is to occupy the building no later than the beginning of summer school in 2006, and perhaps sooner,” Goplerud wrote in the e-mail.
That conflicts with earlier reports that the school would move to its new location by the beginning of the spring semester and some students quickly took notice. After the e-mail was sent, students began to grumble about an additional semester of crowded classrooms and inadequate parking, but Goplerud said he is trying to get in the new building as soon as possible.
“We are still shooting for January,” he said. “That is the best case scenario. The worst case scenario is June.”
With the additional students roaming the halls, Goplerud said he can tell that things are a bit more crowded but added that the school is doing everything possible to alleviate the situation.
“We can tell the difference,” he said. “We are aware of it and that is why I made the announcement in the e-mail I sent.”
Goplerud said he prefers not to be too specific about naming a definite move-in date because, like most construction projects, there are multiple variables that could delay the project, the remainder of hurricane season being at the top of his list.
“Any number of things can throw you off your construction schedule,” he said. “(The possibility of hurricane delays) has always been something that is out there. We can’t build anything into a construction schedule to allow for something like that. I have only been here for a year and it has been a pretty loud year for hurricanes.”
Possible future construction delays aside, Goplerud said the school is moving forward “as expeditiously as possible in all aspects of the project” and is ultimately looking forward to the bountiful space that awaits the students and faculty once the renovations at the new building are completed.
In an effort to keep students and faculty updated concerning the new campus, Goplerud said the school will be installing multiple web cameras at the construction site so interested parties can watch the building’s progress over the Internet.
Once completed, Goplerud said the new campus will be twice the size of FCSL’s current building and will include a parking deck, adequate study areas, a health club, two courtrooms, food service and student-friendly classrooms.