Siobhan Murray
Staff Writer
Official plans are displayed in front of the construction.
The ground floor of the Elaine Langone Center (ELC) is set to expand into a centralized location for the Intercultural Equity and Advocacy offices by November. The new space will house Multicultural Student Services, International Student Services and the Women’s Resource Center offices and lounges, as well as the Activities and Campus Events (ACE) and Bucknell Student Government (BSG) offices.
“We really want to bring these services to the high traffic area of the ELC in the hopes of bringing in more people and providing more effective services for different affinity groups,” associate dean of students for diversity Thomas Alexander said. “We want people to understand that these services aren’t solely for certain people or certain groups. These services are for everyone.”
“I think it will make the offices more public and that people will know where they are. The three offices that are going downstairs will be able to work more closely and easily with one another,” Rabbi Serena Fujita said.
Construction continues to improve ground floor of ELC to make offices more accessible to students.
Alexander hopes the area can become a home base for students to hangout and spend downtime in, but also a center where students can come ask questions and voice concerns. Having the office of International Student Services in the area will provide students with a place to talk about going abroad, and ideally, talk to international students about the real experiences of foreign places.
Since the campus bookstore relocated from the ground floor of the ELC to Market Street in Lewisburg, there has been open space for student use. Right now, the hearth is an open area with seats and tables for students’ use, and houses the post office and Campus Activities & Programs (CAP) center. The new construction will keep this area for student use and expand the lounge section into new additional offices and lounges.
“I think it’s really cool that they’re expanding that area. There’s already lots of room for students to hang out and do work, and I think that putting offices there will attract lots and lots of students to the space,” Anthony Le ’16 said.
For Alexander, the broader goal is to create an appreciation for all types of diversity and a place where everyone on campus feels welcome and comfortable.
This coincides with the University’s overall goals to increase awareness of diversity and promote more openness. More attention can be paid to social and campus issues, so that “Hispanic heritage isn’t just celebrated during Hispanic Heritage Month, women’s and sexual violence empowerment isn’t just paid attention to during Take Back the Night and Black History isn’t commemorated only during Black History Month,”Alexander said.
The Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Awareness will also be moving into the ELC as well.