Hundreds hustle through it everyday, but only a handful of students lounge in the Alumni Lounge. While it seems as though the Alumni Lounge's only purpose is to hide students from the weather as they walk from their dorms to Alpine, there are plans in the works that will change the purpose of this dark space.
Campus Council President Anthony Vitarelli, supported by Director of Student Life Gregg Heinselman and Director of Residence Life and Housing Services Eddie Hull, plans to revitalize and update the Alumni Lounge in order to make it more conducive to group work and student activity.
The project, to be completed before next fall and funded by RLHS, intends to optimize this unused central space as part of a larger plan to enhance the West Union Building.
"It is a dark, dreary, dead space that is unthinkably unutilized," explained Vitarelli. "We want to make it into an active and social studying space where small groups can go to do work, but that is not a 100 percent silent reading room."
Hull hopes that the Lounge will offer another meeting place for students on campus. "The lounge is just an extension of opportunity for all students, mostly an opportunity for students who live on campus to feel like they have a place to study, hangout, see and be seen, whatever they need," he said.
Only a small number of students actually use the Alumni Lounge, and those that do use it only do so for short periods of time, officials said. Therefore, this small-scale project plans to attract study groups and other students by adding several large tables, increasing the lighting, adding Internet ports and refurbishing much of the furniture. The committee is also attempting to make the fireplace functional in order to create a more comfortable and intimate atmosphere.
"The goal is not to lose the casual ambiance, but to enhance it a little bit," said Heinselman. "The traditional look is really rich and warm, but it doesn't make the original statement it was intended to make."
Students often cite the lack of lighting and the prevalence of noise from the large amounts of traffic in the adjoining hallways as reasons for not using the Alumni Lounge.
"I don't even think about it as a place to study.... It's just too busy with so many people going through and the doors always opening," said freshman Melissa Latham.
Junior Andrew Kryzak agreed the Alumni Lounge has an odd feel. "I can't really put my finger on it, but it just doesn't look like a place that people use," he said. "It just doesn't feel like a hangout space."
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Several challenges present themselves because the Alumni Lounge lies along a major artery of the West Student Union and is the main entrance to the Trinity Room. The heavy student traffic through the lounge renders major renovations highly unlikely, but the proposed changes will still allow the Lounge to be used as a prep area for events held in the Trinity Room.
The upgrades are also intended to redirect the traffic flow from the corners of the Union to the Lounge's central door, in hopes that it will again be the main entryway it was originally intended to be.