The Castle VS Murphy
Many people come to Arcadia University because of the castle. While it is a major drawing point, you can’t forget Murphy. Originally Murphy Hall was used to house the horses that lived here as it was the stables.
Grey Towers is known as a symbol for the university with its upfront glorious interior and fascinating exterior. However, being a student here, one can understand that the draw is mainly for outsiders. I have been inside the castle only a handful of times here and I am a junior. First-year students can live in the castle, but only if they want to share a room with seven others and have no air conditioning. There is also a limited amount of available spaces to live there so there is a selective lottery. Arcadia presents the castle as a place where people go to class and attend many social events. From what I have seen in my time here, this is not the case. To me, it almost seems like a huge waste of something that could be much better used.
Murphy Hall on the other hand is a place that many more students go to. This hall uses many different classrooms and studios to demonstrate the ideals of the arts that Arcadia values so deeply. Arcadia being a liberal arts school, values education through hands-on experience. Murphy Hall is a great showcase of this type of learning. There are computer labs where film students can edit on fast-running computers. These labs are often open late into the night in case a student would want to work on classroom work or their projects. There is also a clay studio as well as a place to make jewelry. Some other amenities include a darkroom for photography students as well as a graphics design lab that is separate from the video production lab. While not every student on campus is going to find themselves having a class in this building, they will still find value in the creative aspects that are accessible to every student on campus. My personal experience with this and using the video lab is that each computer has its version of Adobe that each student can use freely. This is a huge plus since editing software can be expensive or it may not run properly on a personal laptop if the student is working on too big of a project.
The teachers who work in Murphy Hall are all very passionate about their work and are willing to help every student with anything that they may have trouble completing. This is a stark contrast to the castle where there is nobody around to ask questions to. Usually upon entry, there may be someone at the desk, but oftentimes it is deserted and you are left to wander to your own devices. Murphy Hall is underrated and more important to the students of Arcadia than it is given credit for.
