New Center Feels Like A Mall, A Familiar Place For Students

By GRACE E. MERRITT | Courant Staff Writer

October 22, 2007

WILLIMANTIC - A marble pathway leads visitors through an open building where they can stop at a food court and order an espresso, browse in a Barnes & Noble bookstore or relax in a lounge on leather armchairs in shades of lime and paprika.

Reminiscent of a shopping mall, this is actually the new and improved student center on the hilly, 182-acre campus of Eastern Connecticut State University.

A $17 million investment and two years of construction have given Eastern's student center a dramatic makeover. The vintage 1970, wood-paneled rooms have been replaced by a much larger, light-filled space where a marble path leads pedestrians through, but invites stops at a café, a visit to a student club or a workout in the gleaming new fitness center downstairs.

Eastern didn't set out to make its new center look like a mall, but agrees that it ended up resembling one. And this reflects a trend in the evolution of student unions nationally as colleges seek to design them to resemble the gathering spots that students grew up with, such as malls, coffee shops and gyms.

"Just by opening everything up, it kind of left us with a mall-like atmosphere," said Nancy Tinker, Eastern's director of facilities, management and planning. "We just wanted it to be open so students would be able to see what was going on in there and be drawn into the activities."

Designed by Svigals + Partners of New Haven, the building has a distinctly modern feel, with accent walls painted in bold purple, blue and red, and simulated hardwood floor tiles set on the diagonal.

It is oriented along the natural path students take to get from one end of campus to another. Downstairs, there are eight meeting rooms, a spacious ballroom with a stage, the fitness center outfitted with 60 pieces of gym equipment, offices for student clubs, and a 150-seat theater perfect for movies, lectures, poetry slams and the like.

Student government President Sulthana Sayed, whose office is downstairs, likes the proximity to other student organizations, which used to be far flung.

"It really is the heart of campus. It's really what was missing before," Sayed said recently.

Many colleges are building new or updated student centers, sometimes together with fitness centers or libraries, to cater to students' needs in the competitive business of higher education.

"Universities are looking at students in a holistic way. You can't just take care of students in an academic way. They are away from home for the first time and on their own for the first time," Tinker said. "We have found that the ones that are really successful are the ones that get involved, that join groups. This is an opportunity for them to really grow as people. A place like the student center really helps that happen. They learn how to work together. They learn how to work on goals."

Colleges nationally are looking at creative ways to address how students interact with each other, said Jon Dooley, chairman of the board of the National Association for Campus Activities.

Eastern's new student center, paid for through student fees, comes about midway through a construction boom at this small, public liberal arts university with 5,137 traditional-age students, including 311 graduate students. Also built since 2002 are an administration building, a parking garage, three residence halls and a children and family resource center.

Eastern is midway through the construction of a 179,000-square-foot science building scheduled to open next fall, and there are plans for another parking garage, a campus police station and a new fine arts classroom building.