ECC settles on new location for South Campus

Orchard Park, N.Y. (WBEN) - SUNY Erie Community College has settled on a new location for its South Campus, and it's less than a mile away from where the current campus is located along Southwestern Boulevard.

At a Trustees meeting Thursday morning, it was announced the college will move its South Campus to 50 Cobham Drive, pending approval from the state Department of Education.

"We wanted to make sure that we were in line with our mission and vision of the college to serve our community and to really be mindful of what we need in terms of our efficiency, to make sure that our our student experience is meaningful, and so really is to make sure that we're serving our community in the most appropriate way, both from a financial as well as the learning experience for our students," says ECC President Dr. Adiam Tsegai. She notes the selection of a new campus site has been a process. "One focus for us as a college has been to ensure that the college operates as one college, and so this fits right in line with us. It has been a process to ensure that we were making the best decision with our students in mind and our community," adds Tsegai.

Board of Trustees President Jeff Stone says is united in thinking that this is a tremendous step. "We think the proper solution is to view our three campuses, not as three separate silos, each with triplicated services, but rather as a single whole one college. And this ties into that, because we want to make the very best experience at all three of our location," says Stone.

Stone says the decision had nothing to do with the new Highmark Stadium. "They have a lot going on in Southwestern Boulevard right now, but we would be making this decision whether or not a new stadium was being constructed. They have been great neighbors to Erie Community College for 50 years in the current stadium, and we've been very helpful to them, and they to us as the new stadium has been envisioned and constructed," says Stone.

Classes this fall will be held at the current South Campus. The new lease begins next summer, with classes moving to the new site next fall.