Tag: idea lab

Opinion

To Tink or Not to Tink? Defending the Idea Lab

Last week, The Mac Weekly included an opinion article expressing distaste for the Idea Lab. The article focused on the chaotic and childish nature of the space, lack of organization and the need for a more “collegiate” focus in our library. I would like to recognize that Noah Elkins, the author of the article, is…

Opinion

Idea Lab’s Detractors Should Learn What and Who It Is

The Idea Lab is at once an art studio, a research facility, a collaboration venue, a social nexus and a grand experiment. It is also perpetually a punching bag for the malcontent. Those doing the punching should understand exactly what and who they are hitting. I run the Dev Garden, a service for students of…

Opinion

The Idea Lab: Not an Ideal Image for Macalester

Walking from the first to the second floor of the library is like walking into another world. The reference texts and printing stations all vanish as you walk up the first flight of stairs, and what you’re met with doesn’t look like a library at all. For some, the fact that the college provides hot…

Opinion

Dismembering the Entrepreneurial Dream

I am writing to you all, on the threshold of my graduation from Macalester, about something that affects all of us, a culture and a world we’ve inherited. I come to you from the throes of paralyzing fear for many futures: for my own, that of my friends and loved ones, for that of our…

Judging a book by its cover in the library
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Judging a book by its cover in the library

This year, the Macalester library unveiled a new project: the Idea Lab. The space was immediately repudiated by much of the student body. Why? Why would a major investment in the Macalester library that brought students new opportunities to collaborate, experiment and learn be so thoroughly rejected (at least at the level of public debate)?…

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