Clubs struggle with lack of meeting places

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Author: Claudia Chow

Aside from the loud banging and the eyesores, the Johnson construction has left many clubs and organizations scrambling to find meeting spaces.

Classes previously held in Johnson Hall were forced to move to rooms on campus traditionally reserved for club meetings, creating a lack of spaces for clubs to meet. The removal of the allotted lunch time on these same days has also left clubs struggling to find times to meet.

The loss of Johnson Hall has forced the Office of the Master Calendar to make up for the loss of 13 classrooms for both classes and club meeting spaces.

“We have turned a couple places into classrooms, because we had to find extra space,” Grogan said. Such places include the recreation room in Rangeview Hall, Hillside (the Greek Bowl) and Lower Herrick. The Parsons Seminar Room, Dumke Commons in Swan Hall, and the Center for Academic Excellence have also been new classroom spaces.

Despite an effort to find more room on campus, many clubs are still upset with how the administration has been handling the lack of space. Herrick Interfaith Chapel and Center, specifically Lower Herrick, was a popular meeting place for clubs, but it is now largely unavailable for student group usage.

“There are certain spaces on campus that need to remain non-academic, and Lower Herrick is one of them,” President of Yoga Club and biochemistry major Isabelle Struve (senior) said. ”Now that they’ve converted it into a classroom, all the groups that used to meet in there are out. I just think there should have been a little more planning on their part before shutting down Johnson.”

Yoga Club, which used to meet in Lower Herrick, is now meeting in Upper Herrick and Thorne Lobby. Struve is having trouble using these spaces for yoga.

“We don’t have a place to meet that’s conducive to our group,” Struve said. “The lay-out in Upper Herrick doesn’t really work very well.”

Club Zumba, which offers free dance-based fitness classes to students once a week, also encountered issues when looking for space to meet. Club leaders Alyson Thibault (sophomore) and Savannah Berry (sophomore) attempted to secure a dance studio for Club Zumba, but were informed that all of the dance studios on campus were booked at their requested times. “It was a big concern that we weren’t going to be able have the club at all this year,” Thibault said in a telephone interview. Eventually the club settled on holding their classes in Sycamore Glen, although they would still prefer an indoor space.

Currently, the Office of Master Calendar is allocating whatever space possible to student clubs. Thorne Lobby is currently used by Yoga Club and Fencing Club. Residential Education and Housing Services has been letting clubs schedule meetings in the common rooms of many residential halls. Some meetings are even held outside.

Although the main cause of the lack of club meeting space is the Johnson Hall construction, the addition of more and more clubs every year makes it harder for the Office of Master Calendar to allocate spaces to clubs. 

“If we had five dance studios, that would still not be enough space,” Grogan said. “There is never enough space on any college campus; everybody wants more.”

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