Student Life has proposed a plan to rearrange services in the Student Union to better suit the needs of the students, according to Associate Director of Student Life David Ballard.
"We're trying to bring in as many services as possible to improve facilitation to students and bring them to one central place for their basic needs," said Ballard.
The arrangement is currently being reviewed and it is likely to go into effect in the spring of 2005.
According to Ballard, a new health center would be provided on the ground floor of the Student Union in Suite 114.
"Health and safety issues are high on the agenda," said Ballard. "We felt that putting a health center on the ground floor was the best solution."
Ballard said that installing a health center on street level of the North Campus would provide quicker ambulance response and solve issues of stretchers not fitting on elevators.
"The health center on the Main Street campus makes it hard for students to access our facilities. The SA felt that it was important to get health services on this campus."
The new plan would also see many other changes, including putting a health insurance office, a parking office, and a UB Card office into the second floor office currently occupied by Living Well.
John Grela, director of public safety, said that the new parking office is a beneficial satellite to the main office in 102 Spaulding Quadrangle.
"We're putting an office there to better accommodate students," he said. "We hope to put more convenience into parking issues, such as tags and online issues."
Ballard said that making the move to the second floor would be convenient for students.
"Currently, the health insurance office is bulging at the seams with staff and paperwork," said Ballard. "The second floor would be a nice area where students could get multiple things done at once."
Living Well, which currently occupies the space, would be moved to Suite 315. The Student Association, which currently has offices in Suite 315, plans to double its staff members in other offices so that they can help create room for the new health services being provided, according to Ballard.
"Health Services is what started it all, they created a sort of domino effect," he said.
Ballard said that SA is also trying to provide better accommodations for UB's publications.
New plans for Generation have already gone into effect. The Generation office, which last year occupied 114 Student Union, now occupies 142 Student Union, a considerably smaller space.
"Generation was moved temporarily because the Counseling Center had to move during the renovations being done in Ellicott," said Ballard.
Michael Torsell, a junior English major and editor in chief of Generation, said that the current arrangement should not affect the way Generation is produced.
"I think we can still turn out a decent magazine easily. We'll just be working in a tighter space," said Torsell.
Plans for next year also include floor plans being adjusted and Generation occupying a part of The Spectrum's office suite.
Torsell also said that he does not have any major objections to the setup.
"At first I didn't like getting moved out, but we were happy to cooperate," said Torsell. "Student Life was helpful to us throughout the move, and provided us with new equipment."
Ballard said that he hopes the proposed changes will benefit the whole university.
"There's nothing more important to me than the students," said Ballard. "I hope this will ultimately give people the services they need, and the space and services will be more appropriately utilized by everyone."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
