The City College Board of Trustees voted on Aug. 27 to “indefinitely postpone” the construction of the new School of Media Arts (SoMA) building in order to allocate money for improvements on campus.

“It’s probably in the college’s interest, in the physical interest,” said Guy Smith, Dean of Educational Programs, who oversees SoMA. “As much as I disagree with it, it’s probably the conservative thing to do.”

California’s budget crisis and the need for funding of other projects were major factors in the decision, according to Dr. Kathryn “Kay” Alexander, President of the Board of Trustees.

A new SoMA building has been a pending project since around 2002, Smith said.

In June 2008, Santa Barbara voters approved Measure V, which provided City College with $77 million to be used for construction on campus. $9.3 million was to be used for the SoMA building.

On top of the $9.3 million from Measure V, the State of California committed $32 million towards the project. The state then retracted $10 million, because they claimed the SoMA building designs were changed without consulting the state.

Another reason the construction was postponed was because the foundation to raise money for the SoMA construction wasn’t as successful as hoped, Smith added.

“The state took $10 million off the table, and that was kind of [the killing blow] of the project,” said Smith. “And we just couldn’t make it up.”

The SoMA Department still plans to submit the current architectural designs to the state for approval, and once approved, the designs are valid to use for five years.

“In a difficult economic environment like this, we owe it to our students, faculty, staff, and the voters who supported Measure V to achieve the greatest good that we can for our campus and the community who benefit from our programs and facilities,” said City College Superintendent/President Dr. Andreea Serban in a news release. “We will use the remaining funds toward as many other capital projects as possible.”

Current Measure V projects include the remodel of Garvin Theatre, construction of the new press box overlooking the football field, renovation of the bridge, and other repairs around campus.

“We’ve got massive maintenance needs that haven’t been met,” said Smith.

The new SoMA building construction was expected to begin in Dec. 2010. It planned to house journalism, photography, graphic design, and film and television production in the same building.

Patricia Stark, head of the journalism department, believes that a new building would have addressed what she calls “sub-par facilities.”

“The bottom line here is that in some cases this college has chosen to look backwards instead of looking forwards,” Stark said

Stark also added that the journalism department would’ve gotten a new newsroom, an upgrade from “the smallest newsroom in the state.”

“This was never designed to be what it was supposed to be,” said Stark. “And we’ve been patching it together ever since I got here, 18 years ago.”

There is no immediate future for the SoMA building. Students are disappointed.

“It’s a bummer,” said film production student Jenny David. “There’s only so much money, they do what they can.”

Renato Marques, also a film production student, believes consolidating all the SoMA classes under one roof would be beneficial to the program.

“If we have everything in one place, and more, better technology, newer stuff, it would be much, much better,” said Marques.

“It’s sad that they have to delay.”