One of Loyola’s new additions to the Danna Center is the Hub. The space was designed to allow student leaders to work together and share a common working space. According to administrators, the space is a place where leaders should not feel alarmed or scared to walk in on another organization’s meeting and to work with other student leaders. The Hub supplies on-campus student leaders with a common meeting place, computers, Internet, desks with chairs and a lounge space with a flat screen television. The Hub, however, was scheduled to open at the beginning of the academic year, but remained locked until recently due to issues with Internet access. During construction, students were forced to work elsewhere. Before that, the computers were covered with a tarp because of Hurricane Gustav, and no organizations have asked about it since. This left many Loyola students asking why the space was not established with Internet and computer access before Hurricane Gustav. Moreover, the available space had not been publicized, so those not affiliated with on-campus organizations do not understand the purpose of the space. In fact, many students are wondering why the space is not available to them and why only specific students had special privileges.

During the spring 2008 semester, organizations with previous offices were strongly encouraged to apply for computer space in the Hub before construction began. Many organizations were required to provide information about the size of the organization and the amount of desired space. Anyone who didn’t specifically apply has no organization working space in the Hub. Now that the inter-organizational space is officially operating with Internet access and working computers, some student leaders may want to avoid the space because of their unfamiliarity with everything. Even though these questions seem unnecessary, it is only common to ask them when such a small space is shared by many organizations.

We understand the Hub is a new and exciting place that gives organizations the opportunity to work together. However, the working space the administrators initially promised took an extended period of time to establish and left organizational office inoperable.

Before the renovation of the Danna Center, many student organizations had space where the Hub is currently located. When the renovations took place, the organization’s offices were combined into one larger space, and the organizations were forced to relocate into the Hub. Many clubs were asked to only request the allotted amount of space depending on the number of members and the amount of work they perform daily. Therefore, people in the same organization would most likely be working on a common computer. The Maroon acknowledges the fact that the administration has great ideas and changes for Loyola. The Hub, the new Danna Center furniture and the classes in Bobet Hall all allow for a “new” Loyola. However, when the new space forces students to find a different location without providing them with one during the hiatus, the administration has failed its mission. The student organizations are left without the basic necessities to adequately perform their daily operations.

The Hub is a great organizational space for students to get to know other organizations, but we feel that it would be more effective in the future to have another alternate location for students to work during construction, instead of closing operations and not giving an alternative method.