New student space opening in UpCDC

Tonight at 8 p.m., the second floor of the Students' Building—known to most as UpC—will open as a new student lounge.

According to Assistant Dean for Campus Activities Teresa Quinn, the idea for an alternative programming space—where students can relax without feeling pressured to drink—came out of the series of town hall meetings that Dean of the College Christopher Roellke and President Catharine Bond Hill held in the residence halls last year.

At these meetings, many students expressed concern over the lack of alternative programming on campus.

"There was no central location for students to go to on weekends if they did not want to go to parties," said Vassar Student Association Vice President for Activities Tanay Tatum '12.

"Our charge was to think of a space where students can go blow off steam late at night—where students can go that would not be programmed with student activities," said Quinn.

The new lounge, which will open from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday, will be stocked with games such as ping-pong, pool, foosball, Scattergories and Cranium. The Students' Building will also be outfitted with a 52-inch television and a Nintendo Wii.

According to Tatum, students will be able to check out any of these games from the student manager, in exchange for their Vassar College Identification Card.

Along with the rest of the Students' Building, the on-site cafeteria Java City has also been given a makeover to befit the altered use of the space; it has been rechristened "UpCafé"—pronounced "UpC Café." Although it will continue to stock all of the same products, Dining Services has replaced Java City with Winchell Mountain Coffee. "They're a locally grown, family-owned business," said Senior Director of Campus Dining Maureen King, who discovered the farm at her local farmers' market in Millbrook.

In honor of the new lounge's opening, the first 50 students to arrive at the inauguration of the alternative space tonight will receive free cappuccinos. Additionally, the Campus Activities Office will be supplying free pizza from Pizzeria Bacio Ristorante, a candy wall and sumo wrestling for the first night of opening.

Originally, the College had considered installing the new student lounge in the Aula in Ely Hall. However, according to Tatum, "The Aula's kitchen would have to be remodeled to be able to support the amount of food UpC's does."

"When [UpC] was dedicated in 2002, it was intended to be a student lounge space," said Quinn.

"UpC is already used as a student space," Tatum said, "it just needs a formal label," she added. While observing student traffic in the Students' Building at night, Tatum reports seeing "students doing their homework, the Barefoot Monkeys practicing, and students hanging out." Judging by the current use of the space as one that serves such multiple purposes, UpC was thus an obvious choice for Campus Activities for this alternative-programming space.

Unfortunately, converting the Students' Building into a lounge removes it as a possible location for hosting events created by various student organizations during the lounge's hours of operation. Many all-campus parties hosted by VSA organizations such as Vassar College Entertainment (ViCE), the Queer Coalition of Vassar College, and the Senior Class Council and many dormitories find their venue in UpC; starting today, such parties will now have to find different spaces on campus to host their events in order to make room for this new use of campus space.

However, according to Quinn the lounge should not pose a significant scheduling problem because most events are over by 10 p.m., in time for the lounge to open. Some events, such as Roaring 20s, have already reserved the Students' Building for parties on Friday and Saturday nights, and according to Quinn, they will still be allowed to use the space just for that night alone. From this point on, however, priority will be given for the space to lend itself to alternative programming on weekend nights.

While the Students' Building may no longer host parties, the College is working to devise new events to fit with the space's more laid-back atmosphere. Quinn suggested, for instance, that the College may bring in an outside food vendor, such as Twisted Soul, on some weekends.

However, such programming is still a ways away at this point in time, as the College wants to gauge students' response to the space before making any such plans.

"We wanted to get it going in a short time to see how it goes," said Quinn, "so now we have something to expand." She concluded, "I'm anxious to be a month out and see how it's going."