Having transferred into the University of Hartford last school year as a junior, I found it difficult to really be able to meet other students outside of my classes and clubs I was involved with. Living in upperclassmen housing is a whole lot different than freshmen dorming since everyone tends to just keep to themselves and their roommates.
Outside of that, though, I think the bigger issue is that there really isn’t a central hub for students to go to here at UHart.
The closest thing we have to do that is the Gengras Student Union. It’s where many of the clubs’ offices are, it’s where mail services is, there’s dining options there and it’s where the Dean of Students office is, as well as Career Services and the Center for Community Service among others.
However, one of the problems is that it’s situated deep in the “academic side” of campus. Once it hits around 2 p.m. or 3 p.m., GSU becomes a near ghost town.
Students living in their dorms don’t want to walk all the way across campus to GSU. Plus, there’s not much it has to offer at night other than food, and that closes at 7 p.m. (or 2 p.m. on Fridays).
Konover becomes the next best option since it has late night food options, but there’s no space to just hang out or relax.
Recently, I’ve visited two larger public universities in UMass Lowell and (the) Ohio State University.
These campuses had the benefit of being in the middle of a city, but they both had rather large unions for students to go to. It had dining options, offices for clubs and organizations and lots of couches and spaces for students to hang out, watch TV or study.
With GSU and library renovations planned to start during the spring semester, I’d hope that something be done to improve the options for students to go. I’m aware that we probably don’t have the same amount of funding and space as other schools have, but we can still make something work.
For the library, I think the obvious change that needs to be made is more seating and tables, and way more places for electrical outlets to plug in our laptops and phones.
I also hope that they could implement some kind of 24/7 hour study room.
It would be just a fairly small secured room that would have computers and tables in it that would require a ID card swipe to get in.
Being the night owl that I am, it kind of sucks having nowhere to go after 1:30 a.m. other than back to my room where I’ll just fall asleep.
As for GSU, I’d hope for it to become more of a social place to hang out while also being able to study and do homework. Suisman Lounge is nice, but make it bigger and add tables and desks.
Even better, add TVs that can be showing the news. It could also turn into a nice place for students to go and watch sports games or TV shows together.
All this would help with improving student interaction, as well as being more flashy things to show prospective students what the University of Hartford has to offer.