NEWS

Wilder staff work to make Union more accessible

Staff want students to spend more time in Wilder

by Peter Kovac

Staff members are working to improve the Student Union in order to increase its visibility and appeal as a central "hang-out" location on campus.

"We're trying to make the Student Union like a living room," Assistant Dean of Student Life and Services Kenneth Holmes said.

Students, however, do not spend enough time at Wilder to think of it as home..

"The Student Union is supposed to be a place to hang out, but nobody hangs out there," first-year David Andalman said.

This is precisely the view that staff members are trying to change with what Dean of Student Life and Services Charlene Cole-Newkirk called the "on-going beautification project" that Wilder is currently undergoing.

Summer renovations included re-furnishing Wilder Main's lobby and adding new furniture to the deck that overlooks Wilder Bowl. Furniture was also added to room 212 to encourage students to view it as a "hang-out lounge," according to a sign posted on its door.

In addition, the first-floor women's bathroom was re-painted. "When I first came back to work at Oberlin, that bathroom looked the same as it did 20 years ago when I was a student," Cole-Newkirk said.

Although these changes were made with the help of student input regarding furniture brand and upholstery, Associate Dean of Student Life and Services Bill Stackman proposed incorporating an official Student Union Board in order to further aid in the decision-making process.

The Board would be comprised mostly of students, along with some faculty and staff members.

"It needs to reflect the community and the people it serves," Stackman said.

The Board would meet at regular intervals to discuss issues affecting the Student Union and to address problems and concerns brought to them by students.

"Students will feel they have a say. It's just so important in terms of attitude. We want students to hang around," Cole-Newkirk said.

Stackman hopes the Board will have "real authority as opposed to an advisory position." To do this the sub-committee hopes to present the proposal to the General Faculty (GF) and eventually to President of the College Nancy Dye. This way the director can't just diregard the Board's suggestions, Stackman said.

This Board is not an unprecedented idea; there are records from the 1940's through the 60's of a Student Union Committee that served the same function as the current Board would. Student Unions date back more than a hundred years to Oxford and Cambridge where they were governed by the students, hence the name "Student Union."

Stackman himself has worked for four other Student Unions before coming to Oberlin. In his four-year tenure as advisor to the Student Union Board at the University of Illinois the director of the Student Union only blocked the Board's recommendations twice and those only when it violated federal or state laws.

This project was not prompted by student complaints; on the contrary, Stackman said, "I think for me it's a more philisophical issue. A philisophical idea on how a Student Union should be run."

It was recognized in strategic planning that "the Student Union is not meeting the needs of students," according to Stackman.

"We need to do a needs assessment and find out where we're falling short," said Stackman, "For me it's very important that the Union feel very opening and welcome to the students; I really want the students to feel that what we're doing is of interest."

Though only in the beginning stages of formation at this time, the Board should be established and operational by the end of this semester, according to Stackman.

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Copyright © 1997, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 126, Number 4, September 26, 1997

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