student centers at commuter colleges, helpful?

willmingtonwave
Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:13:11 +0000

My school, while not a CC, does not have a quality student center. We technically have one, but it is almost all offices and a small food court and people do not really hang out there (although this is gradually changing). It recently went under renovations this past summers and the most noticeable change was a very underutilized/depressing part that they transformed from a sketchy coffee place into a full restaurant/sports pub place. They have all sorts of food and drink specials and it is really being used by everyone! They also do trivia nights, open mic nights, and other sorts of things in that vein. It also has a nice patio that is great to sit on during a nice day/evening.

I wish my LAC had a fireplace/comfy couch type of area, I would really like that to study in, with perhaps a cafe for coffee and whatnot.

I think the key is to make it unique and cozy, and not have such an “institutional” feel of a public high school.

I also agree that with the right amount of promotion through facebook, twitter, etc. that would certainly help.

Geographically, obviously a central proximity would be great.

Best of luck, I think this is a really great topic to be examining, because Community Colleges deserve much more emphasis in our country, because they are very important to developing people and communities (as cliche as that sounds, its true).