Barnard and Columbia students alike have been anticipating the completion of the Diana Center, Barnard College’s new student center. The Diana will not only give students new areas to study, eat, and socialize, but will also provide much needed space for student groups. To ensure that all campus organizations have an opportunity to take advantage of the new building for meetings and activities, Barnard should make adjustments so groups seeking space can be accommodated.
The Diana Center, which has been under construction for the past several years, is scheduled to open its doors early next semester. Without a student center, Barnard has not had a central location for students to meet and study, and student groups have been forced to hold their events in scattered locations across the campus. Campus clubs expect that the new building will help solve this problem by providing meeting rooms, informal study areas, and new dining options.
Club access to the center will not be immediate, however. Groups interested in utilizing the new space must first apply for and receive “stage one” recognition by the Student Government Association unless they are already recognized by Community Impact or the Student Governing Board. Once recognized, groups must use a pre-calendaring system similar to the one used for Lerner Hall to reserve specific rooms within the Diana. This system would require clubs to request space a semester in advance, and it is unclear whether or not Barnard will accommodate last-minute reservations.
SGA should work to ensure that the transition into the new space is efficient, fair, and well publicized. A crucial step toward this end is to implement an effective space-booking system. Because there are at least 100 groups on Columbia’s and Barnard’s campuses that are not currently recognized by SGA but may want to use the Diana, SGA must be efficient and organized with space requests this spring. On Columbia’s busy and tightly packed campus, some student groups currently express concern over difficulties in booking space despite accessible and clear space-booking policies. Barnard should make the Diana a place that relieves this space crunch and generously provides Barnard organizations, as well as other campus groups with ties to Barnard, a meeting space without bureaucratic hurdles.
Students have long awaited the opening of Barnard’s new student center. Still, the Diana will only revitalize student life on Barnard’s campus if the building is a space open to as many clubs as often—and as soon—as possible.
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