The first year anniversary of UMB’s new Campus Center is fast approaching, and with it the time to reflect and think over changes and adjustments that the center has brought to the campus.
The most frequently discussed topics on the subject include the sudden lack of privacy. But while most administrative offices and centers have made do and completed the transition processes, after a year some student organizations are still feeling the effects of the move.
The original blueprints of the Campus Center designated the rooms on the third floor left wing for student centers. The remaining cubicles in the center of the wing were intended to serve student clubs.
However, with only six rooms to divide amongst nine student centers, three student centers were left without a home. So, the Women’s Center (WC), the ARMS Center, and the Black Student Center (BSC), left with no other options, make use of student club space and opened up their centers between the dividers of the cubicles.
Coordinators have repeatedly expressed concerns over the current arrangement. “We have been asking for a better space for a long time,” says Daphine Armand, ARMS Center Coordinator.
Assistant coordinator of the BSC, Kerlyne Cotard, is expressing concern over the new location’s lack of privacy, saying that the students no longer feel like the space is theirs anymore.
“They don’t feel like they have a place to go anymore, so they go other places,” says Cotard.
She continues that, as a result, “the membership of the BSC has dramatically declined.”
After a full year of bearing the disturbances, the Office of Student Life has some good news.
“The needs of the student centers are on the radar,” reveals Jain Ruvidich-Higgins, director of Student Life.
Upon acknowledging the current setup of the three centers as a temporary arrangement, Ruvidich-Higgins says, “the students are expecting their temporary situation to be resolved soon.”
Though the process has not yet begun, Student Life plans to bring architects and engineers to re-evaluate the space.
“Whether that means changing walls or building space,” says Ruvidich-Higgins, “by the end of the semester there will be some change.”
According to Ruvidich-Higgins, this semester alones Student Life activated 14 new student clubs.
If the WC, the ARMS Center, and the BSC were moved to a proper location, there would be 12-24 new potential spaces for student clubs, though “the nature of the clubs wont change much,” she continues.
“We want to bring back the sense of ownership balancing individual identity as a group in a community of many groups,” says Ruvidich-Higgins, though she maintains that, “we definitely don’t want to see the centers moving to other buildings. We want to stay together, even on the same floor.”
Student Life plans for active student participation in the re-evaluation process. “I’m optimistic,” the Student Life director maintains in regards to the re-evaluation plans.
Some students involved are eager to have their say in the impending plans.
“I think it would be good for the centers to get their hands on the process,” says Cotard after expressing her discontent with the current setup.
“We have to work hard to re-establish ourselves. We want to work with the senate and anyone else to get the situation improved.”
Natalia Cooper, coordinator of the WC also expresses her optimism. “I hope the plans Student Life is working on will address the problems properly,” she says. However, she continues that “the university is a maze of bureaucracy and it takes time to get things done properly.”
While the centers look back to their past, from having a room where people could talk privately, where there was security and where the door could be shut, to being in the middle of a giant echo-chamber hallway, many of them see the benefits of the current space.
“It has its pros and cons. The coordinators interact with other coordinators. You get to meet other people and see what they’re doing,” says Cooper of the current set-up.
Despite the ordeal, requests from centers remain reasonable. “I’d definitely like a wall,” says Armand.
Ruvidich-Higgins praises the centers for remaining patient throughout the transition, “The students have been really great. We haven’t had any complaints from the clubs.”
“Change is inevitable, growth is optional,” continues Ruvidich-Higgins, citing one of her favorite quotations. “The campus has experienced change, now its time to experience growth.”