Student petitions senate for new chairs

 

Richard Decker
Staff Writer

The Learning Assistance Center is an excellent resource available to students in the lower level of the Marvin Library Learning Commons. However, it has one chronic issue: outdated chairs that are as ghastly as they are uncomfortable.

Gabe Sotomayor, a sophomore engineering science major, noticed this and successfully petitioned the student senate to put the new chairs for the LAC as part of the 2018 graduating class gift.

“The LAC is one, if not the only, area that has not been updated with new furniture,” Sotomayor said. “It is a common complaint with the many students who wish they could spend hours there but don’t, due to comfortability. I believed it was something I could try do something about.”

The LAC is staffed by full- and part-time education specialists, part-time professional tutors and peer tutors who provide small group and one-on-one instruction in math, learning strategies and other content areas. Activities and programs designed to help students increase their confidence and independence as they work to develop their academic skills are also provided.

Presented with other funding opportunities, like the College Foundation or other similar donors or crowdfunding, Sotomayor believed the student senate was the best way to secure the new chairs.

“The senate has the tools and resources needed to be able to affect change in this way,” Sotomayor said. “It is something that will be lasting for new students.”

Petitioning the senate required student support, but Sotomayor received plenty, presenting the senate with a petition of around one hundred signatures.

“The senators were skeptical about the proposal because of how much money was being requested, but a lot of them had used the services [in the LAC] and understood the need,” Sotomayor explained, of meeting with the senators.

Michael Engle, a math specialist at the LAC, was surprised to hear of the possibility that new chairs would be coming to the center.

“It caught me off-guard that the student senate would be so generous with their money to think of us,” Engle said. “But, I think the chairs would be a nice addition that would encourage students to stay longer, instead of leaving from being so uncomfortable.”

Engle took time to commend Sotomayor in his efforts.

“I was very impressed Gabe was so determined and was persuasive enough to secure the funding and approval [from the senate] for the new chairs,” Engle said.

Ryan Bakes, another math specialist at the LAC, was also happy to hear about the prospect of new chairs.

“In my time here, several of the chairs have broken, so having new chairs to supplement or replace the existing ones is great,” Bakes said. “We will be able to increase our seating capacity, which will be crucial as we move into final exams and draw larger crowds.”

Thomas Nevins, Student Senate Vice President, also lauded Sotomayor’s determination to get the chairs funded.

“It’s really great to see when someone like Gabe, especially since he is graduating, stands up and tries to affect change on campus for other students,” Nevins said.

The class gift, which “helps a variety of different portions of the campus,” includes more money, so you can borrow textbooks from the libraries, security cameras for the Viking Daycare that students and community members can bring their children to, money for new or better chairs and general Campus Center updates, like painting and minor changes that will make the building more visually appealing, Nevins said.

The class gift proposal will be brought to the Faculty Student Administration on May 7 and the Board of Trustees meeting later this month before finally being announced at graduation.