Starting Nov. 1, the Alumni Lounge will adjust its operating hours to three days a week for the remainder of the fall semester. This change is part of a transition to the spring semester, when the lounge will only be accessible to students through reservations.
“The decision to make this change rested with two important priorities—the interest to expand student meeting space on campus while reducing costs in a difficult budget climate.” wrote Ed Gilhool, director of residential education at the Office of Residential Living, in an email to the Voice.
Students who work at the Alumni Lounge will be dismissed. “We recognize this adversely impacts the outstanding and committed staff of the alumni Lounge, and as such, we have extended invitations for other employment opportunities,” said Gilhool in reaction to student concerns over employment.
However, users and employees of the lounge are concerned that the lounge will lose its appeal as a gathering space after the change. “Shifting the space to being ‘reservation only’ stops students who decide on the fly to go and relax in the student lounge and I think that is a real shame,” said Michael Lindsay-Bayley (MSB ’14), a student employee at Alumni Lounge.
