The Aloszka-Costello administration is tackling one of its last initiatives in office — revamping study spaces outside of the library. 

“A year ago now, this was something that Nat and I ran on,” said President Aloszka during his presentation. Under this initiative, the furniture in the study lounges on the 1st and 2nd floor of Student Union West and on the 2nd floor of Student Union East will be getting a makeover. This will include new couches, chairs, and tables at a variety of heights, all in UNF colors. 

President Aloszka and Chief of Staff Ally Schneider presented their plan and budget to the Budget and Allocations Committee on Feb. 14 as a Special Request for funding and received unanimous approval. 

“One of the goals of John’s administration has been to activate areas of campus that aren’t the library,” said Schneider, who is also the Chair of the Student Union Advisory Board. “I think we all kind of agree that the library is often the hub of student life, and we want to activate areas of campus for lounging and studying outside of there, and so the method is refurbishing the areas that are available that maybe aren’t up to par with what students want in a lounge space.”

The budget for furniture in the two lounges in Student Union West is $26,975.80, and the furniture will be purchased through the vendor Steelcase. The lighting in these lounges will also be replaced, which was budgeted at $5,470.

“It’s very dark in there. The furniture is really old and a bit outdated,” said Schneider regarding the first floor lounge. “There’s a lot of corners where it’s almost impossible to see, and so not only is that an aesthetic issue — it just looks really bleak — but the lack of lighting can be an accessibility issue.”

For Student Union East, the budget for the lounge on the second floor is $12,645 and will go through the vendor Global. Overall, the Special Request totaled $49,599.88, including a contingency.

“This is, I think, one of the most underutilized spaces,” said Aloszka regarding the lounge on the 2nd floor of Student Union East. “It’s in front of OFSL, Spinnaker, the International Center, and the Lufrano Art Gallery. That’s four different departments right there that are currently not using the space in a way that’s conducive for the Student Union. But as soon as you make it a nice place, all of those organizations can have study nights there, they can just lounge out for meetings, they can have events there.”

During the meeting, the duo was questioned about the finer details of the plan. Aloszka noted that the new furniture should last roughly a decade, and that the old furniture would be repurposed for other lounge locations if still in good condition.

“I frequently use the first floor [West] study space and I will agree that it’s quite drabby and dreary, and so I don’t think it’s a space that promotes productivity, and so I’m in full support of revamping those spaces,” said Vice-Chair Catherine Selin during the meeting.

“I think that especially the first floor West is very overdue for furniture and lighting in there,” commented Senator Ellis Levine.

The initiative will be presented to the Senate next Friday, and the project is set to be completed by April.

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