For many, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To this beholder at least, campus aesthetics have been taking a downturn recently. The new digitized insignia looks like the old emblem for Texas Instruments. The new academic building that houses the departments of music and history appears as an alien mother ship from nowhere, lacking any architectural connection to either the other campus buildings nearby or to the residential houses in its neighborhood. The latest additions, bulky, “day-glo-like” blue signposts for each edifice on campus, overcorrect the problem of inadequate signage in an obnoxiously bedazzling and outsized fashion.

I recognize that consultants and campus designers worked hard on this and am glad to see the University concerned about its aesthetic appearance. Yet the results so far betray a disturbing penchant for sharp/loud techno-patterning, as if on a trajectory of scholastic futurism headed toward re-branding the University physically as some upscale Devry Institute. Even if those who enroll are to “find their edge” here, do we really want this new image? Students themselves have already picked up on how Jetson/theme-parky the aspect of campus is becoming; their reaction so far has not been positive (see last week’s issue of The Chronicle).

Wouldn’t it be better to build on the extant advantages of our distinctively arboreal aesthetic? The heart of our campus is an arboretum. It should be possible, and one would think desirable, to maintain and enhance a built environment marked by gracefully organic architecture and navigation points, rather than one that evokes an odd feel of boarding the Battlestar Galactica.

Ralph Acampora is an associate professor of philosophy.

Hofstra’s campus has been infested with tasteless new signs in front of every building.

While taking away from the natural beauty of the campus, these frivolous eyesores are no more than a vindication in my mind that the University lacks both self-respect and a classic appreciation for aestheticism.

Brandon O’Brien is a senior English student.