A Vision Bigger than the ESB

The King’s College will move out of the Empire State Building (ESB).  This comes as a shock to some and all of us are trying to get our minds around what this means for King’s.  For some students, and graduates of the last few years, The King’s College and the Empire State Building are virtually one and the same.  It’s hard to fathom a world beyond the bowels of the ESB.

The ESB has served us well these past 13 years.  In the early years, the ESB brought a degree of notoriety to an otherwise unknown university.  It also provided an unconventional campus for our unconventional college.  I must admit it’s been cool, over the past twelve years, to walk through the lobby of the world’s most iconic building on my way to work.

But there is a time for everything under the sun.  There was a time for us to be in the ESB, and there is a time for us to move out of the ESB.                                                                                                                             The ESB is only a building.  The vision of The King’s College is bigger than the Empire State Building—and goes beyond it.  There was a TKC before the ESB. There will be a TKC after the ESB.

Our mission and vision, however, will not change.  That vision is what drew me to King’s—and that vision is what compels me to stay beyond our tenure in the ESB.

Yes, we will experience the loss of an iconic building, which will be painful.  But new vistas will open for the College elsewhere in Manhattan.  I’m even excited about the prospect of finding something that better serves our purposes and that allows the College to grow for years to come.

Plus, after twelve years underground, I feel like one of the mole people.  Perhaps we’ll get some windows out of the deal.