Six months after officials announced they would allocate space on the sixth floor of Lerner Hall, plans for the area are finally underway.
Participants in the planning process say key features, such as the centralized Center for Student Advising, may be completed by next fall. In the meantime, the Columbia College Student Council and Engineering Student Council are waiting to hear how the space will be divided among student groups and advising offices.
On a campus in need of square footage, possession of Lerner’s empty sixth floor has been stuck in a political stalemate for years. Responsibility has ricocheted among several administrative offices, including the central administration, Student and Administrative Services, and the Division of Student Affairs, which is currently housed in Lerner.
Last year, Student Affairs announced long-awaited plans for the space. Offices for the Dean of Student Affairs, such as the Office of Undergraduate Financial Aid and Educational Financing, will move from the fourth floor of Lerner to the sixth floor. The fourth floor opening will be used for a new Center for Student Advising.
The new center will consolidate class centers, preprofessional programs, Academic Success Programs, and the Columbia Undergraduate Scholars Program. Currently, advising offices are spread throughout the campus in residence halls Schapiro, Broadway, Furnald, and Carman. The new center goes hand in hand with changes to the advising system also announced last spring. Students will now have one academic adviser for all four years at Columbia, as opposed to switching advisers at the beginning of their junior year.
“This will improve each undergraduate student’s experience by creating an accessible, central location for student advising services and related programs,” Dean of Student Affairs Kevin Shollenberger wrote in a statement. “The new design will allow for better facilitation of information among advising deans and other advising services in the building, such as the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Residential Programs.”
According to Shollenberger, architecture firm Stephen Yablon Architect PLLC will design the sixth floor offices.
Columbia College Student Council and Engineering Student Council leaders identified the new offices as a priority this year, and expect official discussions about utilizing the new space to begin next semester.
“Lerner Six is still in the works,” said Adil Ahmed, vice president of policy for CCSC. Centralized student advising will, according to Ahmed, “create a one-stop shop for
students to see their advisers.”
One thing that CCSC has focused on in discussions over the fate of Lerner Six is making sure that, in the shift, no advising offices are left out. “I don’t imagine it
being a quick transition,” Ahmed added. “Not one step, but several.”
Although there have not yet been formal conversations about how the new spaces will be utilized, Ahmed suggested that student groups start talking with one another about how to use the space most effectively.
Ahmed warned that the former advising offices opening up in dorms will be highly sought after because there are now so many groups that want their own space.
“This is a really important issue,” he said. “Student groups should go to their council members and suggest ways to
allocate the space.”
Ahmed added that if there’s one thing that the two councils have agreed upon, it’s that “the new space must go to the students.”
COMMENTS
Comments will be moderated in accordance with our comment policy