Whether you’re a member of STAND or the Boogie Club, be sure to push in the chairs and throw away the pizza boxes if you rent a room in Usdan where your student group can meet. Student groups and academic departments are given the option to rent out rooms at the new Usdan University Center, with rental prices ranging from free (for some rooms) to $150. If more furniture is needed, prices may reach as high as $250, while a $75 fee may be applied if a group pays for the standard setup of a room but leaves it radically changed.
“From what [officials] assure me, they’re not out trying to make money off of students,” said Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) President Matt Ball ’08.
Brandon Trice ’09 is not so sure of that.
“I think this is yet another ploy by the University to make money off of students that are already paying too much,” Trice said. “There are already way too many things here where they charge you too much money.”
Director of Student Activities Tim Shiner explained the reasoning behind the fines.
“Each room in the Usdan Center has a standard set-up,” Shiner wrote via email. “If the staff of the building need to bring in additional furniture and move the room around, there is a fee to cover the labor costs.”
Usdan officials are not completely strict, Shiner reassures.
“There is some flexibility on this policy…if a group needs one or two extra tables in (a room) we will likely do it for free,” he said. Moreover, the Student Activities and Leadership Development office has established the Student Program Fund which student groups can apply for in order to decrease event planning costs.
The $75 dollar charge is instituted when “a student group or department asks to use the room in the standard set-up but moves the furniture around and doesn’t put it back,” Shiner said. Recently, two groups – one student and one departmental – were fined the $75 fee. Shiner was unable to divulge which student groups were charged.
Christian Morehouse ’11 doesn’t see the logic behind the policy.
“I think it’s ridiculous that they charge us $75 for something that a staff worker who is already paid a salary would do anyway,” he said.
According to Student Activities and Leadership Development, the rental fees and fines in other buildings on campus are comparable. “With all other spaces on campus, there would be a similar fee,” Shiner said. “We have simply made it a flat fee so that folks know what to expect.”
Shiner insists that there is flexibility in most cases, and that one or two stray tables will not incur a fee. He also noted that any group who feels they are unfairly charged can speak with the Usdan staff to appeal it.
Ball suggested that groups could avoid fees by setting up and cleaning up themselves. Using the WSA as an example, Ball told the Argus reporters that group sets up manually so it doesn’t pay for labor.
“It is a shame that in a university center, which is student space, that students get charged. It’s very unfortunate,” Ball said.
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