A recent face-lift given to the first floor lounge in Wesley Housing is raising quite a few eyebrows with first-year students.
The renovations to the lounge took place over winter break. Residential Life brought in new gaming tables and televisions, retiled the ceiling, upgraded the furniture and placed new decor on the walls.
Many students are enjoying their time in their new and improved lounge area. Others are suspicious that they may have unwillingly contributed to the cost of the upgrades.
On Jan. 3, the first-year students residing in Wesley received an e-mail from Nicholas Varner, Wesley Hall resident director. In the mass email, Varner explained that there were “common area damages” in the form of carpet stains in Wesley Hall. The e-mail notified students of a $39 charge to cover the cost of new carpeting.
However, when the first-year students returned onto campus after winter break, they were greeted not with fresh carpeting, but instead a flashy, new lounge.
When asked his opinion on paying for the carpeting in Wesley, Jordan Stinchcomb, Goodrich first-year, had conflicting opinions.
“I like all the new renovations that they did in the study area, but I feel like they could have used the Albion money to pay for the carpet instead of having the students pay for it,” Stinchcomb said.
Despite detest from the first-years, Varner assures that the money taken from the students is indeed being used for new carpeting.
“[The student money] was used to replace the carpet, which is being replaced over Spring Break in the second centrals,” Varner said.
Varner shared that the Wesley lounge project was supported college-wide and led by the facilities staff. According to Varner, the main goal of remodeling the lounge was to better accommodate the first-year students and also to make Wesley Hall more appealing to prospective students.
However, some Wesley residents are still resentful towards the role that they fear they have played fiscally in the remodeling of the first floor lounge. However, the resident assistants in the building are actively trying to share the facts.
“I have heard complaints, but I’ve tried to tell a lot of the students that the money that they paid to fix the carpets did not go to the lounge,” said Emily Ebaugh, Huntington Woods sophomore and Wesley resident assistant. “The lounge money was already in place. They already had that planned out before the carpet situation was going on.”
Varner enjoys the changes made to the lounge and hopes that students benefit from the new materials provided for them.
“I really like it,” Varner said. “It really brightened it up. I think between the colors and the ceiling and everything it really is a lot more visually brighter, especially with the pictures and everything. I think it is a very fun place to hang out and very upbeat.”
Photo by Kylie Ambu
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