The members of student groups in Coffman UnionâÄôs second floor want to keep their space.
In their last chance to argue in favor of preserving the second floor of Coffman Union for culture centers, University of Minnesota student groups pleaded their cases at a public forum held by the Board of Governors on Tuesday night.
The board is considering various options for the space. The most talked-about change at the forums would decrease the number of culture centers and replace them with a single resource center for all student groups.
To the 29 students who spoke on behalf of the culture centers, adding a resource center would only take away from the University.
âÄúThe second floor of Coffman Union is the only place where any true unity is going on,âÄù sophomore Michael Huynh said on behalf of the Asian Student Union and the entire second floor. âÄúIt goes beyond a few student groups âĦ It is open to anyone to be themselves.âÄù
The forum Tuesday night was the second-floor groupsâÄô final chance to defend themselves before the board makes a recommendation. Paul Freeman, the former Student Services Fees Committee chairman, said that many student groups were missing the point of the space allocation process.
Last semester, Freeman received complaints from student groups that were not receiving free office space, and he called it to the attention of Vice Provost for Student Affairs Jerry Rinehart. Rinehart then tasked the Board of Governors with investigating how the space best would serve the University. Freeman spoke on behalf of the groups that arenâÄôt receiving space on the second floor.
âÄúThere is no turnover in Coffman, and University rules say that the spaces arenâÄôt permanent, but nobody has been asked to leave,âÄù he said. âÄúOnly a certain subset of groups has access to the resources.âÄù
Last week, leaders of each student group were able to submit a survey proposing the best use for the floor. The Office of Measurement Services planned to analyze the surveys by Oct. 14 but has not yet completed its analysis.
The board will use the survey results in concert with the opinions stated in the public forums to make a final recommendation to Rinehart. Some members of the board are also taking trips to two other universities to see how those schools use their space.
Despite a setback with the surveys, Board of Governors President Joel Livingood said he plans to stay on schedule with the
recommendation deadline.
Last weekend, three board members and three advisers spent two days visiting Ohio State University. They will also travel to the University of Michigan for a three-day trip this week.
The total cost of the trips was $9,700, including airfare, hotel and meals for board members and advisers. The expense is covered by Student Unions and Activities, Livingood said.
The Board of Governors has a budget of $11.1 million, funded by University Student Unions and Activities. Student fees contribute almost half of that. The rest is self-generated through sales at Gopher Express and leases to the University Bookstore.
These trips are designed to give the board a better image of how other schools with similar designs to the University use their resource centers.
Livingood said these trips were necessary to find out how the students were responding to and interacting with the resource centers. This is why they chose to go to one school with a new resource center ­âÄî Ohio State âÄî and one with an established resource center âÄî Michigan.
The benefit to visiting these schools as opposed to calling, Livingood said, is that distance communication would only get him facts and figures as opposed to generating a real conversation.
âÄúIt is nice to visually see the space and see how the students interact with the space,âÄù he said.
Ohio State University has a resource center that is designated specifically to student organizations, according to Chelsea Fraker, an Ohio resource center office assistant. Each student group is allowed to use this space for a fee of $250 each year, among other standard requirements like obtaining adviser approval.
The Ohio State resource center gives student groups access to free printing, group name tags and balloon design for events. These are the amenities that CoffmanâÄôs resource center would potentially include as well, Livingood said.
On Oct. 28, the policy committee, which is made up of four Board of Governors members, will be making its recommendation on how the space should be used, but they will be guided and influenced by the other board members throughout the process, Livingood said.
Following that recommendation, the entire 13-member board will review the evidence and make the final recommendation to Rinehart on how to use the second floor.