CLICS — which had been “reclaimed” by the student-run People’s Assembly and the Public Education Coalition (PEC) during Finals Week of Fall Quarter — will be converted into a mixed-use space which will include a 420-person lecture hall, instructional studios for theater and dance and offices for theater and dance administrators. The lecture hall will take up both stories of CLICS, with studios exclusively on the second floor.

According to Associate Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Education Barbara Sawrey, who is a member of the Building Advisory Committee responsible for overseeing the repurposing, the renovation is expected to cost the university $6.7 million. She said that the money will not come from student fees or tuition.

The remainder of the building — roughly one-eighth — will be preserved as a quiet study area      accommodating 156 students, she said.

Students groups such as PEC are unhappy that the administration has gone forward with construction. According to PEC member Sean Estelle, the administration went ahead with the plan to convert CLICS without adequate student input.
 
“The PEC wanted dialogue,” Estelle said. “But the administration’s idea of a dialogue was asking us what we wanted to do with the tiny part of the building that was going to be a study space.”
Estelle said that he believes the administration should have given students a voice in the process of deciding what the Galbraith Hall space would be used for.
 
But Sawrey said that the usage data from last quarter indicated that the new study space, containing 156 seats, “will meet the need at this location.” She said that data shows that there is a need for larger lecture halls at UCSD.
 
There are currently only four classrooms that hold more than 300 students, and these are used all day, every weekday, with a waiting list of courses that can’t be accommodated, she said.
 
“According to state standards, we utilize these rooms at 13.4 percent of the usual time slots,” she said.
Throughout Winter Quarter 2012, CLICS was largely run by student volunteers.
 
The administration had made a deal with PEC to keep paid employees to open, close and clean CLICS. Their contracts had been renewed by the administration, but these employees were notified during the middle of Spring Break that their positions had been cut.
 
“The administration has resorted to deception, and lies and trickery to get what they want,” Estelle said in regard to employee lay-offs.
 
Estelle said that the PEC has and will continue to fight for students to have more control over CLICS.
“They’re doing this because they’re scared of us,” he said. “They know we’re getting petitions, and signatures and they know we have a chance.”