. . - - SUB Manager Dean Vettrua' purchaae of thia axcarved wooden Vandalaculpture in the aprlng of 1989 cauaed a brief controveray among atudenta. (Johnson)
Changes In The Student Union Building Left Many Complaining Of A Loss Of Power And Very ...
5U5-coNSC~JOUS E nter the Student Union Building through the north end doors during the fall semester of 1989 and you were likely required to step over or dodge around assorted scaffolding. ladders and buckets of liquified plaster. The equipment was just another reminder of the bustle of changes. both inside and out. that the SUB underwent during the year. To some students, the piles of scrap and dust looked more like a mess than changes. Amid student complaints of loss of sovereignty, $26,000 was spent building an information desk across the hall from the old on e at the SUB's center. The old desk was manned entirely by students. but SUB Manager Dean Vettrus decided students were too busy during prime class hours to be 24
Student Union Building
eiTicient at the desk. Up to seven students worked per morning behind the old desk. One professional took the place of those shifts, while students still man the desk in the afternoons and evenings. "I am a very strong employer ofstudents." Vettrus said, "but I also think it's my responsibility to have the operation run eiTiciently." The HUB room at the north end of the building was the source of much hallway clutter as workers reconstructed it from the center for high school relations to the new oiTice for the vice president for student affairs. a position recreated by President Elisabeth Zinser. But the office proved too
small for both uses. and a plan was circulated to expand into Vandal Lounge. Concerned about the loss of studying space. student leaders lashed out at the plan. "I don't like it," Sen. John Goettsche said. !he university is takings pace from the t;tudent's own building." After c a lling a meeting with students. then acting V ce President Hal Godwin said he would not trade the study space for his new office, but no further conclusions on the space crunch were reached. The biggest change the fall saw at the SUB was the bookstore's move to new
quarters across the street. More shelf space. wider a isles and more cash registers were ready for customers when classes started. By Homecoming. the new building's stark grey cinder blocks had been decorated with red brick trim. The most often heard complaint about the new store was the same old one about the outrageous prices charged for textbooks. The Student FinancialAid office is scheduled to move into the old bookstore area from its current location at the University Classroom Center. Perhaps the saddest loss at the SUB were victims of a bus lane added along Deakin Avenue. Four mature elm trees that filled the front of the SUB with autumn color were declared diseased and cut down.