Student Senate will vote tonight on a resolution that proposes keeping Baker University Center open for part of Sunday, despite survey results that said students preferred closing the building on Sundays.
The resolution, which has already been submitted to Vice President for Student Affairs Kent Smith, suggests keeping Baker Center open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 7 a.m. to midnight Thursday and Friday, 8 a.m. to midnight Saturday and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday.
If the administration goes for it
it could work said Student Senate President Robert Leary.
Currently, Baker Center is open from 7 a.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday, 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to midnight Sunday.
Next year, Baker Center must cut about 15 operating hours as a result of universitywide budget cuts. Ohio University will slice $13.75 million from its budget next year because of a decline in state funding, and Baker Center must cut $114,585, or 2.8 percent, of its $4.08 million annual budget.
In addition to cutting hours from Baker Center next year, the first floor guest services desk will be closed and student employees will work fewer hours.
Students ranked closing Baker Center on Sundays as their first choice, followed by closing at 9:30 p.m. daily, according to the results of an online survey conducted by senate last week. Senate's solution - drafted after senators were displeased with the other two choices presented by Smith last week - came in third place.
Both the quantitative and qualitative results were mixed reviews said Student Senate Vice President Emily Bacha. We want a middle ground; we don't want to close on Sundays or much earlier during the week. We looked at the times students use Baker ... and tried to come up with the best possible option using data from the survey and from Baker's historical use.
Of the 1,032 people who took the survey, 539 voted to close Baker Center on Sundays, 292 voted to close the building at 9:30 p.m. daily and 201 voted for the option proposed in senate's resolution. However, the survey also allowed participants to write in additional suggestions for operational hours. Of these responses, many people asked that Baker Center remain open on Sundays, Bacha said.
This discrepancy between the quantitative and qualitative results of the survey might be because of confusion about the hours reduction scenario developed by senate, according to the senate resolution.
What we think happened is we didn't put any specific time on our proposal
Bacha said. What we heard back from students was 'So you're closing earlier than 9:30 p.m. (during the week)?' It seemed there was a good majority of students who thought that way.
1
News
Pamela Engel
