Council strives for changes in student center with resolution
The burgers sizzled, registers rang, lines lurched, students laughed in the lounges and the Douglass Governing Council passed a resolution inside the Douglass Student Center Tuesday night, that aspires to make the student center more appealing.
The resolution recommended increasing dining options, stressed the importance of study and lounge space, suggested providing a cashier's office and noted that students would like to see an increase in the amount of programming on campus.
President Mangelin Rivera, a Douglass College senior, said the resolution aimed to make the student center a more active center of student life.
"We want to make it one of the places to be. We need more than just our café, our Uno and our great Mabel's store. We need to attract people in some other way," Rivera said.
At the request of the Office of Student Life, the council created and administered a student survey with the intention of gathering student input about possible renovations and additions to the student center, according to the resolution.
Two hundred eight students completed the survey "Revamping the Douglass Student Center: What's Your Opinion?" and of the 208 students, 65.4 percent were on-campus Douglass students, 13.5 percent were commuters, 13 percent were off-campus students and 8.2 percent were students living on campuses other than Douglass, according to the resolution.
Respondents wanted to see seating at the Douglass Café expanded, wanted meal swipes to remain an option and would like to see an additional vendor placed in the student center, according to the resolution.
Douglass College senior Megan O'Rourke, the external vice president, said the majority of respondents had similar concerns.
"Some of the concerns that the respondents had were in such high numbers that they say a lot," O'Rourke said. "Across the board they wanted more space, more options, definitely healthier food and more vegetarian options."
Rutgers University Student Assembly representative and Corresponding Secretary Christine Esposito discussed some of the issues surrounding the recently converted lounge space on the second floor of the student center.
"There's still a lot of problems with it. There's not much furniture in it and it's not very well lit, so when you go into there to study it's difficult," said Esposito, a Douglass College senior. "They're also using that space for programming sometimes so students will get knocked out of the lounges and there's no place for quiet studying."
O'Rourke said that a majority of the respondents used the student center as a dining option.
Internal Vice President for the council and Douglass College junior Jennifer Kanyamibwa said she hopes to see a Panera or Starbucks sprout up in the student center.
"I want it to be something healthy; I don't want it to be fast food," she said.
The amount of respondents using the student center for programming seemed surprisingly low, according to the resolution.
The resolution recommends encouraging the Rutgers University Programming Association and other student organizations and leaders for input. Movies and concerts were the type of programming respondents would most like to see, according to the resolution.
Rivera said the recommendations would hopefully lead to more programming at the student center and create a better environment.
"I love my campus center," Rivera said. "This is a beautiful campus center and there's tons of space, and we need to use it. If anything these recommendations will make the center a better place to come chill and have fun in."
The resolution encouraged the Office of Student Life and the administration of the Douglass Student Center to take the findings into consideration as they commence planning and facilitating the renovations of the building.
