The Coates University Center is blockaded by giant boards and largely inaccessible. Behind those boards is a busy construction site. In a couple of months, when these boards are removed, a brand new Coates Center will emerge.
An imminent result of this multi-million dollar renovation is relocation of several university services. Counseling Services will move to where Student Involvement currently resides, in the west wing of Coates. Student Involvement will be relocated to the first floor of the current bookstore, where the new Diversity and Inclusion Office will also reside.
The bookstore itself will move to the lounge area where the mail center used to be. The Center for Experiential Learning and Career Success (CELCS) will stay where it is, but will expand to encompass the current second floor of the bookstore: the textbook area.
One reason for this renovation is to bring Counseling Services back to the center of campus. Counseling Services used to be in Coates, something the seniors might remember from their freshman days. The move from Coates to the Halsell Center was temporary. By having Counseling Services closer to the lower campus, students can easily find and access it. The other services in Coates can easily refer students to Counseling Services if needed.
“We feel like, for the students, it’s better to have [Counseling Services] here, in the center of campus,” said Trinity University Dean of Students, David Tuttle. “This location, in the west wing where Student Involvement was, is a perfect location because a lot of people don’t know the west wing is there. What this does is that it gets counseling to the center of campus, but not on display.”
Students have mixed feelings about relocating Counselling Services. Kristi Tilghman, junior international studies and Spanish major, and Victoria Marshall, sophomore psychology major, are among the students who don’t see the move as very beneficial.
“I don’t like how we are moving Counseling Services over here. So many people like the seclusion of it being so far away,” said Marshall. “It is a little bit hard to find if you don’t know, but there’s plenty of people on campus who can direct you or take you there. Having it far away protects people.”
Tilghman agreed. “A lot of my friends, the reason they don’t want to get counseling is because they feel awkward about it. They don’t want people to see them. It’s a small campus with not many people. People notice things.”
Addison Keller, a junior political science major, on the other hand, thinks it’s a good thing for Counseling Services to be closer. “Having Counseling Services in Hassel was a bit of an inconvenience for a lot of people and deterred a lot of people from going. So having it more accessible, especially to the dormitories, is helpful.”
The renovation also intends to make better use of un-utilized or underutilized spaces, according to Jacob Tingle, the director of Experiential Learning. The lounge area on the way to the food court used to be the mail center. When the area was transformed into a lounge, some of the space went to waste. With this new renovation, the bookstore will inhabit the space, putting it to good use. It will create “a more dynamic entrance for the bookstore,” Tingle said.
The upstairs of the bookstore, which is mostly just used the first and last few weeks of each semester, when students come looking for textbooks, has also been underused. By turning this space into part of the CELCS, it “allows for a creation of a large space for CELCS. Staff and students can utilize this area for interviews and mock interviews,” Tingle said. He was also excited for the future coordination between Student Involvement and CELCS to better student life.
In fact, more collaborations among different departments will be a major outcome of the renovation. “Things will be way more integrated,” said Twyla Hough, director of Career Services. “Counseling Services can make referrals to us. Likewise, sometimes we have individuals in our office who believe there is a challenge with the job search when there really is an underlying factor that needs to be addressed with some counseling. With Student Involvement below us, it allows them to make referrals up to us for students who are in leadership positions to shift what they love to do into a career or vocational calling.”
The Diversity and Inclusion Office is a new addition that aims to be a multi-cultural student center. It will be located right behind Student Involvement, where the first floor of the bookstore currently is, and will have couches and books related to various underrepresented and marginalized groups.
Multiple sources said the renovation will be completed by the time of New Student Orientation (NSO), which will be held in mid-August. On the day the story is published, the project is 40% completed.
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