Club Corner shut down

Zoe Deno
Staff Writer

Yellow caution tape ropes off a once-bustling area at Hudson Valley as the Club Corner is brought to a grinding halt.

Director of Student Life Louis Coplin called Public Safety because students were reported to be yelling profanities. The loud and lewd behavior was attributed to a round of the newly-popular game, “Cards Against Humanity.”

The sitting area is right next to the Student Activities office and Coplin alleged that these students were being disrespectful to people who were trying to work nearby.

Public safety director Fred Alberti opted to shut down the Club Corner until the school decides, at Coplin’s discretion, the best use of the area.

“Everyone has a different definition of what respect is, but the definition on this campus is as the code of conduct reads,” Aliberti said.

Section 5.3.2 of Hudson Valley’s Code of Conduct dictates that “Harassment” includes “the persistent use of abusive or offensive language,” and potentially justifies disciplinary action.

“This is the campus center — it’s not like there are active classes that could be disturbed by our noise,” said Matthew Provost, a computer science major. “[‘Cards Against Humanity’] is a card game that is expected to be a little vulgar. When someone said something funny we laughed.”

Provost was unhappy about how workers at Student Activities talked to him and his friends.

“I am paying to [go to school here] and they patronize us,” Provost said. “We are 19, 20, even 30 years old.”

“The school’s policy is something for elementary schools and we are adults,” said Gerardo Salazar, an individual studies major. “A lot of groups on campus are just as loud as we are. If you go [to the first floor of the campus center], there is a group of kids who play ‘Magic [: The Gathering’] and are just as loud as us. Anywhere on campus where there isn’t a volume restriction, you should be able to be loud.”

“Many of the kids who were in the group playing ‘Cards Against Humanity’ up there that day weren’t even a part of the regular group of people up there,” Provost said. “They just showed up because they liked the game. A few of them took it way too far.”

Salazar said he felt bad for the students who were not playing “Cards Against Humanity” and now cannot use the space to study because the area is off-limits to every student..

“It’s unfair, not just…for the people hanging out and yelling, but it was more unfair to the quiet people who have been hanging out there for two or three years,” Salazar said.

Human Services Major Maeve Uhalde said she had only been to the Club Corner a few times before it was shut down. She agreed students needed to be kicked out, but not permanently.

The likelihood of the Club Corner being reopened as a place for the general student populace to relax seems unlikely.
This is not the first time that the Club Corner has been shut down for seemingly “bad” behavior. It was previously shut down in spring of 2015, and the offender was reprimanded by administration for his language.

“Keeping it the way it is won’t solve the problem,” Coplin said. “All it would be is a temporary solution until next semester rolls around and a new generation of students [cause] the same problem.”

Coplin wants to see a permanent solution and is considering sealing the Club Corner off and making it an area that clubs can rent for a few hours by reservation.

In the meantime, students must wait for the fate of the Club Corner to be decided.