After coming back from winter break, Queens College’s Student Union has shut down after a series of pipe bursts, heating issues and flooding, leaving little to no access at the building for an uncertain period of time.
On January 31st, Interim Vice President of Finance and Administration Troy Hahn announced the student union would be closed through February 3rd due to a water main break in the building after the record-cold winter earlier this year. However, the building would remain closed until February 9th and would stay open for a single day before shutting down long-term.
“Personally, it was really frustrating when [the SU] closed suddenly again after reopening,” said Nadja Alexia Reyes, a Junior Accounting student and the treasurer of QCTropa. “I was one of the people who was there to pack up the entire club room and it was overwhelming and frustrating because there were also a lot of miscommunications with the Office of Student Development and Leadership (OSDL) in general.”
The building is known to house the majority of all student activities by student-led clubs and organizations, as well as services including OSDL, the Knights Pantry and prayer spaces for various religious groups. As a result of its closing, students have fled all over campus to places such as the library, academic buildings and the dining hall to conduct meetings and hold events.
At approximately 12:30pm on February 10th, occupants of the Student Union were urged to evacuate the building, taking all important and personal items with them before 3:00pm. Less than an hour later, QC Dean of Students, Dwayne Jones, addressed students and faculty to evacuate immediately due to the escalating situation.
Reyes added, “My club members told me that we needed to pack up by 1:30pm so when I got there, I started packing with a few of our members when [Jones] informed us that the SU was closing earlier… So we had to rush and it was overwhelming because we keep a lot of stuff in our club room, especially for our events.”
She continued, “With the closure, I feel like OSDL has been extremely hard to reach in terms of communication. We have had previous complications with them, with a lack of response and everything but this shut-down has heightened it all.”
“In terms of events, the Student Union caters for a lot of event spaces, so the closing of the building negatively affected us in that aspect. We typically don’t like hosting events in other buildings such as Powdermaker since there are usually classes before and after which makes us feel rushed when we are packing up materials from our events.”
In an interview with The Knight News, Student Association’s Philanthropy Chairman Shania Narine mentioned that her team was also rushed whilst packing up their personal property from rooms such as their offices and shared spaces due to the severity of the SU’s flooding situation.
“In terms of events, the situation did put us at a slight disadvantage, but I have to say, our team is very efficient and takes action when something goes wrong such as party postponement or cancellations or something uncontrollable such as the weather, but we did work collectively to create back-up plans.”
Narine added, “I feel as though OSDL is working double-time now with all the club events they have to approve… OSDL needs more people because we have more clubs than they do staff; that also sets us back a little bit. Getting room and budget approvals are important and if it’s not done in time, it sets us back pretty badly.”
During a sitdown with The Knight News on March 4th, Vice President for Student Affairs and Strategic Enrollment Initiatives Jennifer Jarvis gave an update on the Student Union stating:
“As for an actual date on when the building’s gonna reopen, I do not have that for you at this moment. What I can tell you is that currently Queens College, DASNY (Dormitory Authority of the State of New York), and the student union teams are working closely together to address the concerns of the building… What we’re looking to do now is make sure that all of the health and safety concerns are addressed so that we can invite the Queens College community, and then as well as the general community back into the building.”
The Knight News will continue to provide updates regarding the matter. Students are encouraged to stay updated through emails from the college.
