With the grand re-opening of the Collis Student Center less than a term away, campus organizations will soon start scrambling to secure space in the renovated building.
A committee that is being formed will set criteria for space allocation in the new center.
In 1989, the Collis Building Committee began structuring a plan for a new campus center to provide informal social space. Charles Collis '37 donated $5.5 million to the renovation project in February 1992.
The center has been closed for construction since December 1992. The completed center will join the old Collis building and College Hall on the corner of Main and Wheelock Streets.
The remodeled building will have four floors, a four-story atrium and a new glass facade. Along with Robinson Hall, Thayer Dining Hall, the Hopkins Center and the Tucker Foundation, the new Collis Student Center will comprise the Campus Center Concept.
Headed by Director of Student Activities Tim Moore, the space allocation committee begins reviewing requests for space later this month.
Every recognized student organization on campus will receive application information. Space assignments in Robinson Hall and the new Collis Center will take effect at the beginning of Winter term, and application will be an annual process.
The committee is still formulating criteria and drafting ideas for assigning the space. "All organizations will be made very aware of the application criteria so they can respond to it," Moore said.
Sateia recognized the existing space limitations in the expanded center. "We have close to 200 student organizations on this campus. We can't accommodate them all," she said.
Organizations such as the Tucker Foundation, which was formerly located in College Hall, and now located behind Thayer Dining Hall, will not be moving back into the new Collis Center.
"That doesn't mean that these programs don't serve students," said Sateia. "It just means that we couldn't accommodate their space needs."
Each floor of the renovated student center will have an specific focus. The basement will be mostly informal social space, including a campus pub, billiard tables, a video game room and a television lounge, Sateia said.
Sateia said a lack of informal social space on campus was "one of the main needs which drove the project."
Collis Cafe has been moved to the front of the first floor space, and in good weather, students will have the option of dining at outside tables. One of the major problems with the old Collis Center, Sateia said, was that the Collis Cafe seating extended into the large hall called the Common Ground, and programming events could only be scheduled between dining hours.
In the new building, the seating for Collis Cafe will be separate from the Common Ground area. Also located on the first floor will be the information desk and a conference room large enough to accommodate groups of 50 to 70 people.
The second floor will house student organization offices, including the Office of Student Activities, Office of Student Life, the International Office and the Native American Program Office.
Two separate meeting rooms on the second floor were carved out from what was once Collis Conference Room A. Two new conference rooms have been constructed on the second floor, facing the Green, and another meeting room is located behind the balcony.
The third floor will house offices including Career Services and Academic Skills. The Career Services Office will feature an expanded library and seven windows facing the Green.
With seven meeting rooms compared to the three in the old center, Collis will be "more of a conference center and campus center than it was in the past," Sateia said.
Student organizations not receiving specific space in the center will still be able to reserve meeting and banquet space in the new conference rooms.
"At this point we're ordering furniture," Sateia said. "Things are really moving along."
