ASWSU Senate gives input on future student center

From staff reports

The ASWSU Senate was given a chance to ask questions and comment on the future student center during its weekly meeting Wednesday.

Sean Greene, the director of the Compton Union Building, shared design documents and the current floor plan for the project, previously called “The New Old Bookie.” The name has since been changed to “Chinook,” after Washington State University’s yearbook. The thought is that the Chinook represents all students, just as the building will.

As undergraduates are the only ones who will pay the fee, only undergraduates will be given access to every feature of the building. Graduate students will be able to purchase a $98 membership to use the building each semester, equal to the fee undergraduate students will pay.

Some of the features and amenities planned for the building include hot yoga, a gender-neutral locker room and napping areas. These ideas came from a survey conducted last semester, in which 3,000 students participated.

The renovation designs will be voted on at the end of the month. If passed, construction on the project will begin, and the building will officially open in January 2017, which is when students will begin paying the $98 fee.

The Senate also voted on a referendum regarding the implementation of a student media fee, which failed by one vote.

Had it passed, Referendum 45-01 would have given undergraduate students the chance to vote on whether or not they want a $4 fee per semester, which would help fund aspects of The Office of Student Media, including The Daily Evergreen and The Chinook Yearbook.

Reporting by Jonathan Carrigan