Undergraduate student center will have to wait

While many Yalies are still demanding an undergraduate student center, two smaller-scale student centers are opening their doors this fall. The McDougal Center in the Graduate School had its grand opening on Tues., Sept. 23, and the finishing touches are currently being put on an Old Campus student center for freshmen.

The McDougal Center, on which construction first began last spring, finally opened its doors last week. According to center director Lisa Brandes, GRD '94, the center's major donor, Albert McDougal, GRD '53, "became convinced that graduate students didn't get the same experience as undergrads [without] the residential college system."

The center occupies a wing of HGS, as well as a large common room which will feature a student-run coffee bar and a big-screen TV. Other facilities include libraries, a computer cluster, a program room, and a locker room. The McDougal center will also sponsor social events and professional development seminars.

Meanwhile, the plans are in the works for a freshman student center in the basement of Bingham Hall. Begun last year by then-Freshman College Council Chairs Kamran Ansari, SM '00, and Zach Kaufman, SY '00, the center should open soon. The two are working with Dean of Student Affairs Betty Trachtenberg to select furniture and finalize all plans.

"I am confident that the freshmen center will be completed by the end of first semester," Ansari said.

Yet the prospect of a larger student center for all undergraduates remains unlikely, even though the issue has been discussed for several years.

Yale College Dean Richard Brodhead, BR '68, GRD '72, said, "The first year I was Dean, we had a working committee to envision a student center that would function as a supplement to the residential colleges." "It would have many of the same features, but the concern was that we needed a place for cross-college socializing, and we needed to improve facilities for the student organizations."

According to Brodhead, the need for such a center has become less pressing. "At the time, there were two important facts behind those concerns. First, there had been a huge exodus off campus, which led us to worry about the nature of the college community...Second, this was before we had the universal-access computerized gate key system, so you could only get into your own college. This was a major obstruction to cross-college socializing," he said. "Now, since both these situations have changed, there's less clamor for a student center."

Yet many Yalies believe that a student center would enhance undergraduate life. "Yale needs a central location where people can mingle as a student body,"Alex Ambash, BK '01, said. "It's isolating when you don't see people from other colleges on a daily basis, outside of class."

YCC President Kimbie Taylor, TC '99, agrees. "I think there's definitely a need [for a student center]. The student interest level is very, very high. We do have college butteries, but that's sort of a system that really creates much smaller communities."

Brodhead, however, pointed out that the cost of building a center is a limiting factor. "A student center would probably cost about $25 million. If we had $25 million, what would be the best thing to do with it? We could create a student center, or we could devote it to improving the residential colleges, or we could spent it on international financial aid--but the bottom line is, we can only spend the money we have one way."

Brodhead acknowledged that a student center would benefit the Yale community. "In an unrestrained world, [a student center] would be great," he commented. "In all honesty, I'd have to say that while the subject [of a student center] is not entirely dead, nor is it a pressing concern right now."

The organizers of the freshman student center hope that their work will serve as an example. Having this center "is a step in the right direction," Ansari said. "It will show the administration that [an undergraduate student center] is needed."

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