One of the roles of the Executive Board is to manage the Union facilities, meaning one of these responsibilities is the general allocation of meeting rooms as well as common spaces. The McNeil Room has always been hub of the Union, transforming the academic center of campus to the social and cultural mecca that is brought to life every Friday at about 4 pm for the weekend’s schedule of events. Past boards have made a point of actively reserving the Union for study space for years, requiring that any club or organization wishing to use the space during the week receive a majority vote of the board.
This year’s Board has revisited the question as to why the McNeil Room is designated as guaranteed study space due to several proposals that have come on the agenda in the past weeks. After all, as a Union, we are the social center of campus. Shouldn’t we have our best space available for events during the week to offer an escape from the academic atmosphere of buildings and work spaces that fill our days? Essentially, is it our job as a Union to provide an outlet from academics completing the collegiate experience, or should we provide the means for the direct practice of the academic experience through study areas?
These questions strike at the very heart of the purpose of the Union. If one looks at the Union Constitution, our purpose is to “unite all its members … encourage student initiative … and to act as a medium through which student opinion is expressed.” This broad and all-encompassing purpose statement does not get us far when we consider the use of space. The Association of College Union International, the national conglomerate of student unions, states that the role of the college union is to “act as the center of the college community life, the union compliments the academic experience through an extensive variety of programs … providing the opportunity to balance course work and free time as cooperative factors in education.” If we are the center of college community life, then what is the collegiate atmosphere, or living, learning, and social atmosphere that makes up Rensselaer?
Rensselaer is a world-class technical school in which classes are highly focused on teamwork and group problem solving in which students must collaborate. The dull roar of conversation in the McNeil Room invites that discussion and open interaction. Our students do not demand silence, but simply look for an environment that is both convenient in location to meet with others and intellectually stimulating. One can simply walk through the McNeil Room and can almost see the equations and theorems taking form between students. This is the Rensselaer I have come to know, and the physical essence of our work ethic and style symbolized by the usage of the McNeil Room and balcony level on the third floor.
The fact is that the Union is simply the active expression of the students’ will. As the students’ will evolves and changes, so does the Union. Personally, I feel the role of the Board is to simply ensure that students are getting the maximum utility out of the space. As it stands, during the week, there is not a seat unfilled, a table left empty, or a vacant room on the McNeil and Third Floor levels.
I would argue that we have one of the most highly utilized student unions in the country, and it is no mistake, for our students decide what form and shape the Union will take each year. As for now, our students, represented through the board, maintain that the McNeil Room will indeed continue to remain the center of academic work on campus and offer any student, or group of students willing to meet, the means by which to do this.
