The Undergraduate Council of Students is recommending that the University create a new study lounge on Pembroke campus after conducting an audit of all student lounges and study spaces on campus, according to Admissions and Student Services Chair Andrew Bergmanson '11.
Throughout November and December, members of the Admissions and Student Services Committee split into small groups and visited almost all 200 rooms on a list provided by the Office of Residential Life. Approximately two thirds of the rooms are no longer used as lounges, and most have become dorm rooms, Bergmanson said.
A fall poll conducted by UCS indicated that only 15 percent of students currently study in dormitory lounges. Fifty-eight percent of respondents believed that there were not enough lounges available for student use near dormitories.
"Lounges on Pembroke are very sparse and, in a lot of cases, have been taken over to make new rooms, especially in Morriss and Woolley (halls)," said Bergmanson.
Bergmanson has proposed that ResLife construct a new study lounge on the first floor of Woolley in the space that formerly housed the Brown Card Office, which has since moved to J. Walter Wilson. The room is currently a temporary office for UCS and Brown Student Agencies, who both plan to vacate the space and move to permanent offices once the renovations of Stephen Robert '62 Campus Center in Faunce House are complete next year.
"I think it would be useful because MoChamp (Lounge) is generally pretty crowded," said Emery Hall resident Tony Bakshi '13, a Herald sports staff writer. "A computing cluster would be really nice."
Senior Associate Dean of Residential and Dining Services Richard Bova said the space is being considered as a possible lounge, but nothing specific has been planned yet.
"I am still waiting for the results of the audit," Bova said. "Then I will engage the students in that endeavor," he added, referring to the renovations of the old card office.
Bergmanson said his committee hopes to be involved in the design process and will recommend that new lounges include computing clusters.
"We need to have more lounges that are centrally located and that people will actually use," Bergmanson said. "That's been a goal of our committee for years, and it's something that needs to happen this year."
ResLife is currently planning renovations to lounges and hallways in New Pembroke and Vartan Gregorian Quad A. Work on New Pembroke is slated to begin June 1, with New Dorm following shortly thereafter. Bova said both projects should be completed in time for the 2010-11 academic year.
