Campus

UC talks ground-floor closure, students comment

Students play in the UC Games Room before its closing. It will not be open until Phase One of UC construction ends.  |  Rebekah Stearns/The Daily Cougar

Students play in the UC Games Room before its closing. It will not be open until Phase One of UC construction ends. | Rebekah Stearns/The Daily Cougar

Departments within the University Center are continuing to close and relocate for the first phase of the renovations that will shape the New UC. Among these departments is the UC Games Room, which officially closed its doors on Nov. Thursday.

“Currently the two departments in transition are just the UC’s game room and the Forensics Group,” said Keith Kowalka, assistant vice president for Student Affairs. “They were originally scheduled to be taken offline in phase two of the project.”

The UC’s rework is split into phases delineated by floor, Kowalka said.

“We’re in the middle of Phase One, which will go on for 18 months,” Kowalka said.

“It’ll be done December 2013, and we’ll open the parts that are under construction in January 2014.”

The ground floor is closed for students because of Phase One, but will open again when construction begins on the second floor.

“When we’re done with Phase One, students will get the whole floor back,” Kowalka said.

“Because of the construction, business and students have moved to the UC Satellite, creating a bustling, often-busy atmosphere.”

In the previous year, the Satellite saw about 7,000 people come through its entrance every day, Kowalka said. The construction at the UC has caused that number to rise to 8,200.

“The Satellite as a whole is up 20 percent people in the building for last year, just from the UC being closed,” Kowalka said.

Games from the Game’s Room have been relocated to the Satellite, said Bill Schwehr, assistant director for UC Leisure Services.

“We’ve moved some of the more popular amusement games from the UC to the Satellite,” Schwehr said. “If you go over there, you’re going to see Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero.”

The change has had various effects on students, such as Patrick Tsc, mechanical engineering sophomore and Dance Dance Revolution advocate.

“It feels different,” Tsc said. “Now I have to come to the Satellite, and it’s kind of awkward.”

The loud games may be out of place within a dining location, but mechanical engineering junior Josh De Leon said he enjoys it.

“It’s really entertaining,” De Leon said. “If they had competitive games around here it’d be a lot more fun.”

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