New College House West to be built from free throw bricks against Kansas
Catherine Liang | Design Associate
March 27, 2018 at 12:13 am
They call it the charity stripe for a reason.
In a surprise announcement earlier today, Jim Garner, the head architect working on New College House (NCH) West—confirmed that the new residential building will be made from the bricks that Penn men's basketball shot from the free throw line against Kansas.
President Amy Gutmann chimed in on the news as well.
“We are all so proud of the men’s basketball team this year. They’ve worked incredibly hard throughout the season, won the Ivy League, and competed with one of the nation’s best programs in Kansas during the NCAA tournament. The future is bright—both for them and for New College House West,” Gutmann said.
The statement comes in the wake of the Red and Blue’s 35.7% free throw percentage against the Jayhawks earlier on in this year’s iteration of March Madness. Many free throws were missed in timely moments when Penn was trying to claw its way back into the game; however, now that we know the cause, it all makes sense.
“We probably could have won the game, but at the same time, we were feeling charitable. NCH West needs to be built real soon, and this is a great way to help out the community,” said one of the Quakers’ sophomore guards.
Interestingly, the Quakers are not the only team to contribute to the cause. The Virginia Cavaliers and Xavier Musketeers are just two of several teams that sacrificed their title dreams for NCH West.
“We are thankful for everyone’s efforts. Now instead of convincing the Board of Trustees to hike the tuition by 4.1% to finance the building, it only has to be hiked by 3.9%!” Garner said.
Coach Steve Donahue of the men’s basketball team also decided to comment on the announcement.
“We hope that the architects and builders are satisfied with the material that they now have to work with. That being said, next year we won’t aim to be so charitable,” Donahue affirmed.
Given the fact that a No. 16 seed beat a No. 1 seed for the first time ever in the men’s tournament, anything is possible.
NCH West, whose construction is now far ahead of schedule, is expected to open in the fall of 2020—a full year earlier than initially projected.