The Undergraduate Student Government Association (SGA) at NSU is hosting a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new commuter lounge in the Student Affairs Building (SAB) room 105 on Jan. 12 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. during the Winter Weeks of Welcome.
The lounge will be stocked with refrigerated drinks and has a TV with a Wii and a Netflix account for students to use. Plans for this lounge have been in the works for many years. Bethany Warlich, senior business administration major and president of SGA, explained that students, primarily commuter students, have been asking for the lounge for a long time.
“[SGA] has always been pushing for a commuter lounge. Finally, we were able to get a lounge,” Warlich said. “This was to help commuter students who have classes from 9:15-11:45 a.m. and then they have a 6-10 p.m. class. For those hours, where are they going to go?”
Brad Williams, vice president of student affairs and dean of the College of Undergraduate Studies, worked with SGA to turn the idea for the lounge into reality. Warlich said that Williams is dedicated to NSU and its students.
“He listens and advocates for the students all the time, and he was the one that realized this was something that the students were pushing for and undergraduate SGA really, really wanted,” she said.
Benjamin Lowery, junior chemistry major and former SGA member, said that his impact plan for the Razor’s Edge Leadership program also helped bring SGA’s student lounge idea to the attention of Williams.
“I know so much about the SGA portion [of this plan] because I used to be a part of SGA and for my impact plan, I was required to research the history of the project I was working on,” he explained. “At one point in time SGA actually had a petition with over 2,000 signatures to build a commuter lounge; however, it did not occur. The university has seen the need for a student lounge for a long time. I was just the student leader who finally made enough waves for it to actually happen.”
All students are welcome to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony and use the lounge, although the space was primarily designed for commuter students. The lounge will be open to students during the SAB’s hours of operation.
For more information, contact Warlich at bw726@nova.edu.
Caption: The grand opening of the new commuter student lounge will take place on Jan. 12.
Credit: N. Chavannes
