Survey plumbs opinions on Campus Center,
Student Union

by Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff

joint effort by Student Affairs and Administration and Finance is investigating what the campus community would like to see in the Lincoln Campus Center-Student Union complex. An on-line survey is underway to sample the tastes and needs of students, faculty and staff, according to Ashoke Ganguli, director of Auxiliary Services.

     Surveys are going out in batches until a statistically valid response from each constituent group has been obtained, according to Amy Glynn, assistant to the vice chancellor for Student Affairs.

     "We are asking about what is working at the Campus Center-Student Union complex and what services students [and staff] would like to see, including food vendors," Ganguli said.

     "Basically, the overall strategy is to make the buildings busier at certain times of the evening. We're not worried about the day. So we're asking if they would like shops in the concourse? Computer lounges? What movies? Would they like a national chain, like Wendy's or a local business like Antonio's pizza?

     "Our chancellor would like to [see us] enhance student life. We're moving towards getting student life reinvigorated on campus."

     "The chancellor, Jo-Anne [Vanin, interim vice chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life] and Joyce [Hatch, interim vice chancellor for Administration and Finance] realized that [changes] can't happen in a vacuum," Glynn said. "Folks from both sides needed data and a pulse on what's out there."

     Meredith Schmidt, director of the Campus Center and Student Union, said schools have a wide variety of student unions and that researching what other campuses do isn't enough.

     We also want to sample our own students," she said. "The [perception] of student needs [by faculty and staff] might be quite different from what their actual needs are."

     "To get ready for the survey, we sent out dozens of personal e-mails to request ideas about what the survey should cover," said Glynn, who, with Ganguli and Schmidt, sits on the "preliminary committee" that is studying possible changes in the complex's offerings. The group is being assisted in the survey by MHTN Architects, a firm with offices in Utah and Arizona that has worked on student centers at a number of schools, including Westminster College in Fulton, Mo., Brigham Young University in Salt Lake City, and the University of Arizona.

     "They've done [a survey such as] this with many other universities," Schmidt said. "We're pretty impressed with some of the results they have gotten."

     Ganguli said the committee hopes to get the survey results by the end of the semester and use them to make programmatic changes for the fall.

     "There are small amounts of money to do that," he said. More substantial changes will require time and additional monies, he and Schmidt said. Both added that the survey results will help them plan for changes in better fiscal days and allow them to move in a coordinated way toward such time as more resources are available.