Usually one of the more imposing structures on campus, it’s
pretty hard not to envy the well-equipped Student Union buildings at UCLA and
UC Berkeley. These bigger, better cousins of our Price Center boast travel
agencies, haircut salons, arcades, 24-hour study lounges and, most envy worthy,
a wide variety of inexpensive restaurants that stay open late.
Now, with the new expansion of Price
Center and other parts of campus,
UCSD is taking a step in the right direction. Our answer to UCLA and UC
Berkeley’s Student Unions will grow to include more restaurants, study lounges,
a nightclub and other exciting additions, making way for the more tight-knit
and community-centric campus that the administration has always wanted to
create. These sorts of improvements (that we pay a small fortune for, of
course) will be key to augmenting UCSD’s notoriously low morale, and in the
process, might actually facilitate Triton solidarity.
The new construction is encouraging, but there is still a
lot more room for expansion and improvement of Price
Center. The A.S. Council will be
moving into new offices with the expansion’s completion, but let’s hope
councilmembers take a walk outside and start to use the new space for better
activities to unify the campus.
We need everything we can get to overcome this frustratingly
spread-out campus and push for developments that will make Price
Center that nexus of activity and
student convenience we’ve always dreamed of. UCSD may shut down at 4:30 p.m., but student needs do not operate on
a nine-to-five basis. Let’s keep the momentum going for a more student-adapted Price
Center that compensates for the
embarrassing dearth of things to do in La Jolla. Forget
Spirit Night — the key to Tritons’ hearts lies in the availability and
convenience of on-campus services, restaurants and events. Let’s make it
happen.