Almost as soon as I got back to campus, I started hearing epic tales of the new Commons Center on Peabody. People described a dining hall full of exotic pastries, brick oven pizzas and a munchie mart beyond your wildest dreams. They spoke of glittering marble, and flat-screen TVs. It was impressive — but in all honesty, the only place I saw Vanderbilt in that building was in the small Vs engraved in the dining hall walls.

Although as students we typically don’t pay much attention to our campus other than to get from point A to point B, the style and layout of our buildings say a lot about what goes on inside them, and even more importantly about us as a campus.

In one of my classes last semester, we discussed the differences between the organization and architectural styles of main campus and Peabody. While Peabody was modeled after the University of Virginia and is highly neoclassical in style, main campus is eclectic, an almost a medieval answer to Peabody’s linear setup.

When you really stop to consider it, this makes a lot of sense. Main campus buildings reflect the different types of study that go on inside of them. Although Stevenson and Olin may offend my artistic sensibilities, I know their form matches the function. They make perfect sense when taken in context.

Conversely, before The Commons, Peabody’s design reflected the classical origins of the education system. The straight lines also mirror the organization and linear thinking of HOD and the cognition labs. Aside from the symmetry and beauty of the layout, Peabody fits remarkably well into the greater Nashville community — the so-called “Athens of the South.”

Together, these campuses reflect us as a whole. Both campuses are admirable on their own and specialize in vastly different things; however, it is only when considered as a whole that one can truly appreciate the full power and true beauty of the entity.

What does all of this have to do with The Commons Center? It doesn’t seem to reflect anything except the desire to be something we are not. It feels more like an airport or ritzy long-stay hotel — one thing it does not feel like is home.

Admittedly, the food was incredible, and the dining hall itself is quite impressive, it doesn’t feel anything like Vanderbilt. It isn’t just that it was a new building, and I was unused to it. It was something more transcendental than that. That dining hall and that building could be at any college; it doesn’t seem to belong to us.

The modern aesthetic sets it apart from the rest of Peabody, despite vague attempts at classical allusions in the outer architecture. The chairs in the lounge had an intriguing design, but I found them to be really uncomfortable and awkward. The Common Ground munchie mart seemed more like an airport gift shop than anything else.

The structure is impressive, but it lacks the Vanderbilt spirit. The students and buildings on this campus make Vanderbilt stand out. That’s why we love it here. I felt none of myself in that building, and I suddenly felt irrelevant to my own campus.

I know we’re trying to change our image. I understand — but do not agree with — the reasoning behind The Commons. I greatly commend the efforts to become more environmentally friendly and to better ourselves. I get it. I just find it terribly sad that it seems as though in the excitement about growing and creating something new and wonderful, we have forgotten who we really are.