The first set of desks nearest to the glass walls of the Hub, the office for student organizations in the basement of the Danna Student Center, was requested by Loyola’s two largest organizations, the Student Government Assoication and the University Programming Board through space allocations.

SGA requested wants the front spaces and the UPB felt the Hub should maintain the same setup as last year. 

According to the Student Space Allocation Committee guidelines, applications are reviewed by need, usage and the organization’s contributions to the university. Even if an organization does meet all this criteria, they still may not receive their space because of limitation.

The allocations committee is made up of no more then seven members, which this year consisted of the leaders of SGA, UPB, the Loyola University Community Action Program, the Loyola Asian Student Organization, the Muslim Students’ Association, the Panhellenic Council and the Black Student Union. The committee is responsible for providing fair and equitable treatment to all organizations applying for space. Members of the committee are expected to identify all affiliations with organizations that apply for space.

“Because of the number of desks requested by UPB, there are really only two areas in the hub where all their members can be in one area, so the two proposals came together naturally,” said Chad Carson, sociology junior and co-president of LUCAP.
Carson explained that while everybody had an opinion, there was nothing particularly concrete for the committee to vote on.

“What it came down to was either SGA or UPB in the back,” said Sarah Cooper SGA president and marketing junior,.

“To compromise, I considered giving UPB the entire back. All they really wanted was storage space and we have better space by the mailboxes for that. But some strong personalities were like, ‘Well that’s the reject corner. No one wants to be in there,'” Cooper said.

Members of the committee unaffiliated with UPB felt the outcome was inadequate.
“SGA has an office, does UPB have an office? No,” said Tanya Hamilton, a committee member, political science junior and president of BSU. “Now you need UPB. Where are you going? Way to the back. No organization wants to sit in the back, that’s the truth.”
SGA leaders saw the set up of the hub differently.

“The reason why I felt that SGA should have been in the front is because most students who do come into the hub should first see SGA because we are the organization of all organizations and if someone has any questions we can direct them the right way,” Cooper said.

UPB had their own concerns about the outcome.

“It was all about continuity of an office space. The front of the hub is comprised of six computers and is set up in a way that is cohesive for all the six computer spaces to communicate to one another. In the back the space is a bit fragmented and a little less cohesiveness is possible among all the programmers at once,” said Danielle Reid, president of UPB and psychology senior.

Carson said that the SGA plan ultimately won because two voting members of the committee from LASO and MSA stood to gain desks closer to the front under the SGA plan.

“That formed a voting bloc of organizations that stood to benefit from the SGA plan. It was a dynamic that I unintentionally created when laying out the two plans. Once we were voting, it was obvious that I had stacked the cards against UPB because there were then three organizations on the committee that benefited from the SGA plan and the only committee member that benefited from the UPB plan was UPB,” Carson said.

Carson said, BSU, Panhellenic and LUCAP had no vested interest in either plan because BSU and LUCAP have private offices that won’t be reassigned until next year and Panhellenic occupied the same desk spaces in both plans.

Reid said there are no hard feelings despite the conflicts during the space allocations meetings this year, that this is the way allocations work and that people will likely get moved again next year.

“It is actually a larger meeting space, and while I worried about the fragmentation of the six computers it has turned out fine,” she said. “What people fail to understand is that every year, space in the Hub is re-allocated. Some people will like the outcome, and some people will not like the outcome. That is just the way that is, and next year the same thing will happen.”

Stephanie Pawlik can be reached at [email protected]