Many faculty and staff members are disappointed that the new student lounge in the Kirby Student Center is not ready for the start of fall semester. Last spring, the student lounge was expected to be completed and ready for use when students returned to campus this fall, but due to some complications, the completion date has been moved back.
Jeni Eltink, director of the Kirby Student Center, explained that the documents needed in order to allow the construction to begin didn’t come through as quickly as anticipated.
“The first phase (of the project) was hazardous materials abatement, and that happened in the last few weeks of school,” Eltink said. “We anticipated that construction would then be able to start immediately afterward, but it couldn’t because we were waiting on the right documents.”
Any construction project in the UMD system is a joint project between the Duluth campus and the Twin Cities system. This year a new process was developed to determine what kinds of projects can happen and how they will be done. Eltink said UMD is still trying to figure out how this system works.
Although the lounge will not be done on time, Eltink said the overall project duration is still on track.
“It’s disappointing, and I’ll be the first to say that, because we were really hoping to have the students come back to it,” Eltink said. “The project is still on track in terms of the amount of time that it will take to complete it. It’s just that that whole timeframe has shifted.”
Eltink said she is very pleased with all the work the contractors and subcontractors have been putting into the project. She said even though the space is not done yet, it already feels like a different, bigger, more open and sunny space.
“The contractors and subcontractors have been working as hard as they can to complete this because they know that this is a student space, and they want to have it available for students as fast as they can,” Eltink said.
Eltink said one thing she has learned from this process is that there is always variability. The timeline of the project depends on many things, such as if the materials arrive on time, if they are in proper condition, and when the proper permits get signed.
There will be two separate openings for the new lounge. One, which Eltink explained as a “soft” opening, will happen as soon as the lounge is complete, which should be sometime during fall semester.
“It will be a little splash as soon as the lounge is ready,” Eltink said. “We want to make a big deal out of it.”
The second opening—the grand opening—will happen at the beginning of spring semester. The grand opening will not only include food and a ribbon cutting ceremony, but alumni of UMD, the chancellor, the Chamber of Commerce and other community members will be invited to join in the excitement of the new space, as well.
“Even though it’s disappointing that it’s not ready yet, it is still going to be spectacular,” Eltink said. “It has been really neat to watch this all come together.”
With the construction of the new lounge, some offices were destroyed in order to make the lounge larger—one of those being Greek Life.
Senior and TKE member Jeff Pouliot thinks the revamping of Kirby will be very positive for the school, and although he is sad to see the Greek Life office move, he said he is pretty happy with the new office location (right next door to the Statesman office).
“It is nice to be close to the Student Association, the Kirby Info Desk and the Statesman,” Pouliot said. “Being in close contact with those people will be great for us.”
Although the office space they have now has less lounge space, Pouliot still thinks it will be a very functional area for Greek Life.
BY SHANNON KINLEY
kinle005@d.umn.edu