At the past Undergraduate Student Government meeting, Director of Capital Planning Patrick Nelson spoke about the changes happening in the Union.
Nelson presented a map of the Union and showed the completion of “Phase 1” in the Union parking lot.
Nelson said that the parking lot will be slated to be mostly complete over the summer, but will be done officially by the fall.
When the discussion turned towards the inside of the Union, a large portion was dedicated to the ideas and plans for the implementation of a new multicultural lounge and space.
Dr. Sidney Childs, interim director of Student Affairs, was asked by Nelson to answer the questions about the multicultural space.
“There have been preliminary discussion with Call to Action where they have been helping us determine what that space is going to look like,” Childs said. “(It) would include the multi-cultural affairs, TRIO and the (LGBTQ) resource center.”
Childs said that the administration decided not to put together a “make-shift” space for multicultural students.
“It was agreed that we should not make-shift the space because what I didn’t want in terms of the presentation … as it relates to multiculturalism, or underrepresented groups or marginalized groups, it has been makeshift,” Childs said.
He said that they will not know when the multicultural space will be open and ready to use, but are trying to move the room up on the capital planning agenda.
Luke Savot, a diversity affairs representative, said that this multicultural space is critical for any students who exist with a marginalized identity.
“I hope that the space will improve on what we already have,” he said. “Right now the resource center and the ethnic student center both are not private spaces, they’re very small … and they are only open during office hours.”
Savot looks forward to the new center having more accessibility.
“This is important because the space represents the University’s dedication to students with marginalized identities,” he said.
During lobby time, Lily Murnen, president of the Environmental Action Group, and Matthew Cunningham, an at-large senator, presented an open letter to President Mary Ellen Mazey asking her about a solar project that the University has been researching.
The project is based off a city solar project that would influence and reduce campuses carbon footprint by 2040.
Cunningham said that in 2012, the University and President Mazey signed a document entitled the American College Climate Plan, that ensured that the college will do everything available to reduce its carbon footprint by 2040.
“It is our understanding that our project is not being taken on by the University,” Cunningham said. “We are asking, ‘President Mazey, are you staying true to your commitment to clean energy … and what can we do as concerned students to make this project a reality?’”
Cunningham said that he hopes it sparks discussion on how they move forward with the solar project.
“We don’t want to hear an excuse that this project cannot be a reality. We want to compromise and see it through,” he said.
