Editorial: Awkward layout plagues student center

A lack of bathrooms alone puts the center in this category.

Published May 7, 2009

First and foremost, it's important to remember the new student center is going through its awkward adolescent stage. But there are many things about the new center that should've been reconsidered before the old one was torn down.

For months, the center had no bathrooms available to students. Surely there could have been some better alternative than forcing students to defer to the Agriculture Building across the street. Even now, in the center's fifth month open, students have to go upstairs to get to the bathrooms near the center for student involvement offices.

The new center's awkward layout problems don't end there. The best known path to Chambers Auditorium - which the university has used to host student lectures and meetings for various organizations - leads students through the bookstore and the kitchen of Truman's Takeout before leading to stairs up to the second floor.

Speaking of Truman's Takeout, disappointment does not begin to describe the limited dining options available for students, not to mention the miniature layout and space for students to eat.

These issues are even more frustrating after seeing the new center suck up an ungodly amount of students' money.

Hopefully these problems will be resolved with phase two of the new center, but the university apparently expects students to live with this awkward structure until that comes up around 2011.