The Student Union’s fourth floor revamp has received mixed reactions from the organizations with spaces there. According to organization leaders on the floor, the revamp included the reassignment of rooms to different clubs. Some of the organizations affected were the Daily Trojan and several cultural organizations.
Many in these groups said they were unaware of the changes that were happening and did not find out until they tried to use the space only to find it was closed.
“We never received an official email notification that they were renovating it, but when it reopened, we did receive an email from the new director who oversees the cultural affirming lounges that it was back open,” said Nizhoni McDonough, a law, history and culture student. “But I know I wouldn’t say we never received any specific emails saying what they were renovating and to what extent.”
“Personally, I was not aware that they were renovating the fourth floor in general,” said Tatiana Sataua, Vice President of the Pacific Islander Student Association (PISA). “It was kind of a surprise to me when the first week of school I wanted to go to that study space and I see that the fourth floor, we’re not allowed to go in there. So I was kind of taken aback from there.”
According to a statement from USC Student Life, “These renovations are part of ongoing work and commitment to prioritize community development and student engagement at USC, as well as expand and modernize our student spaces.”
Some organizations worked in temporary spaces until their renovated spaces were reopened weeks into the school year. Others had a difficult time adjusting to the changes, given they did not have a temporary space to work in, according to organizations on the floor.
“The first two months were really hard because we didn’t have another space to go to, unlike other cultural organizations that had temporary spaces,” Sataua said.
Rooms on the fourth floor slowly started to reopen this month.
“So the lounge this year was actually delayed opening until, I think, September 11 it actually opened,” McDonough said. “So we were promised that it would be open before school started, but that was delayed.”
Prior to the rearrangement, some of the rooms not only provided space for members of student organizations, but also contained a history that associated directly with the group in the room. The change affected both leaders and members in various ways, making it difficult to readjust.
“When I heard that we were going to be switching spaces, I was pretty disappointed since our old newsroom carried such a legacy,” said Aubrie Cole, a Daily Trojan Arts & Entertainment Editor. “[The newsroom] had been in there for around 60 years. It was such a homey space that I’d grown to love.”
Other organizations said they were moved to smaller or shared spaces, leaving some members feeling overlooked and questioning the university’s thought process.
“Last year, the space was more able to accompany both of our clubs [PISA and the Native American Student Assembly (NASA)], and this semester with the move, it feels smaller. There are two clubs sharing this one smaller room,” Sataua said. “We are severely underrepresented within many communities, including the Asian community, and I just feel like both us and our partner organization were overlooked in this process.”
While students are still getting used to the new layout, the updated aesthetic has been popular with some.
“Coming into this new newsroom, it’s so nice,” said Cole. “It’s much nicer than I thought it was going to be. Everybody in there seems super excited about the future.”
But organizations on the fourth floor are not the only ones affected by the changes. According to Maideh Orangi, co-executive director of the Middle Eastern North African Student Assembly (MENASA), the organization hopes they will be able to get a bigger space as a result of the fourth floor’s shuffling.
Currently, the space for MENASA is the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) lounge, located inside the Center for Black Students. According to Orangi, MENASA members have to walk directly through the MENA lounge, sometimes even during an event.
“Other cultural centers like the Latin American Student Association, I think the LGBTQ+ student lounge, the sustainability one, those things that are all opening up their own individual entities and renovation while we are left to share a space,” Orangi said. “I think we are for sure open to moving to a different space and getting the same opportunity as other organizations in the reshuffling of the student union.”
According to organizations Annenberg Media spoke with, the floor is still not completely open. A date for a grand opening of the fourth floor has yet to be announced.