The two recent donations to build a new dinning hall and offices for the Civic, Global and Professional Opportunities offices have raised questions concerning what kind of space the Union Building will become for students.
The dining services currently located in the Hub will move into its own building,  R. David and Suzanne A. Hoover Hall, leaving space for the Kathryn F. Hubbard Center for Student Engagement and various office spaces to meet the university’s needs.
DePauw Student Government President Sara Scully and Vice President Mark Fadel were asked by their advisor, Dean of Campus Life Dorian Shager, to find out what students would like to see this building become: office spaces or a social atmosphere, like what’s currently in the building. Scully and Fadel would like to find a middle ground between these two extremes.
Scully and Fadel have started to meet with greek chapters as well as several other student organizations to get feedback about what students would like to see in the current Hub’s dining area.
“We are going to organizations and talking to students to have a better sense of how the space could continue to be a real ‘student union,’ even without dining services, and how students would prioritize ideas for using that space,” Scully and Fadel said in an email.
After talking with students over the past week, Scully and Fadel said many want the building to continue being a central location for student gatherings. They said students suggested continuing the current Hub’s 24-hour access, more study group rooms, keeping the ballroom for big groups to meet and potentially adding a small café.
Junior Maggie Repko wants to see the Hub become a place for study groups to meet.
“I would like to see more study space because Roy O. gets too crowded,” Repko said. “The Hub is also a more central for any student to get to.”
Dean of Experiential Learning and Career Planning, Raj Bellani, views the center as a place to provide students with the support for off-campus study, community service, Winter Term advice, internships and career planning. He also sees it as an important space on campus for students to socialize.
“It will be a central location where students can go to get the support they deserve,” Bellani said.
The new center will be located in what is now the Hub’s dining area, but until an architect firm is found, a plan is drafted and all costs are accounted for, the center will have a temporary location.
The short-term location will take over the unoccupied space where the bookstore used to be in the basement of the Union Building.
In addition to collecting student input informally, there is going to be a formal student committee, which will consist of a small group of students to formally discuss what students are looking for in this center.
Scully and Fadel will continue meeting with students to get more ideas for the center.
“We look forward to continuing organizational visits to gather more creative input,” Scully and Fadel said. “This will be a huge and lasting change to our school, we want to make sure we are incredibly well-versed in student opinion.”
Bellani wants the center to be a central destination to provide students with life coaching.
“It’s where we provided the best advice so students can make best decisions for their future,” Bellani said.
The center is scheduled to launch by September 2013.