The recently re-instituted Collis Governing Board, an advisory and governing body concerned with the use of space in the Collis Student Center, has ideas to change the center.
Collis Center Director Mark Hoffman said he wants to use the Governing Board "to get a sense of direction of what students want in Collis ... and make it more of a fixture on campus."
Immediate goals
Collis Governing Board co-Chair Nana Ashong '99 said the Board is focusing on improving two areas this summer -- the game room downstairs and the lounge.
"The overall goal is to make Collis more of a social space -- right now people mostly just float through Collis," Ashong said.
"But if it really is supposed to be the student center, it should be more of a place to relax and spend time," she said.
Ashong said the game room is "pretty sterile," and ideas to spice it up have included painting murals on the wall, changing some of the furnishings and replacing the jukebox, which was there last year.
Possible ways to make the lounge a more desirable place for students to hang out include adding bookshelves with donated books and getting magazine subscriptions for the lounge, Ashong said.
The Governing Board will definitely make changes to Collis this term, according to Ashong, before looking ahead to Fall term and other goals for the building.
Hoffman said he hopes to get some of the changes made over the interim period between Summer and Fall terms, such as ordering magazine subscriptions.
The Governing Board
According to Hoffman, the Governing Board has been in existence since the 1980s, but it was originally a programming body. Once the Programming Board was created, the Governing Board became more of a policy and advisory board.
During the extensive renovations to the Collis Center in 1993, the Governing Board played an integral role working with Dean of Student Life Holly Sateia soliciting student input, Hoffman said. He added he thinks without a definite agenda and a large-scale project like a renovation, the Governing Board is not fully defined.
Without a permanent director of Collis this past year, the Governing Board was not functioning, but Hoffman said he started putting it back together Spring term, and the group first met this summer.
Between eight to 14 students have attended the weekly meetings this term, Hoffman said.
Membership is open for the summer, but he said the ideal membership for the Governing Board would include two Collis student managers, student employees from Dartmouth Dining Services and Lone Pine Tavern, a Programming Board member, a member of the Committee on Student Organizations and students from various classes.
The Governing Board is made up of mostly students, and there are only three staff members.
"When you have people who are affected by the decisions make them, you have stronger decisions," Hoffman said.
But he said he views the Board as a work in progress because it does not have a major task before it now.
The Board needs to work on its structure and create a constitution to overcome the vagueness of its mission, he said.
Aside from identifying areas within Collis that can be improved, the Governing Board will also be responsible for allocating student organization space within Collis and Robinson Hall.
Hoffman said he only has a small budget available, so members must petition the Programming Board and the Undergraduate Finance Committee for funding.
