Over the summer, what was once the A-State Bookstore has become the A-State Eyesore — an empty room in the Student Union with bare walls and slowly dying fluorescent lights. As you’ll read in this week’s news section, we still don’t know what’s going to go in that space, but I have some funky fresh ideas.
Game Room
I know what you’re thinking. “This is a university, this should be a serious location.” But are you gonna tell me you WOULDN’T take advantage of a room with arcade games? Ski ball? A ball pit, perhaps? Maybe some of those little metal-wooden-bead thingies you find in doctor’s office waiting rooms? Yes, I am suggesting that we treat this space like the room they put kids in at IKEA while their parents go shopping (it’s called “Småland” which I think is delightful). But college is stressful, and I think it would be a great stress-reliever to be able to pop by the student union and sit in a ball pit for half an hour while I do a coloring sheet. I’ll bring my own juice box.
Haunted House
This one’s a bit more time-sensitive, but I think it would be really cute if we could use the empty space as a haunted house this year. It wouldn’t be too hard to set up some partitions and make a little maze, and the room’s already pretty spooky now that it’s empty.
Cafe/Dining Area
Anyone who has ever tried to eat lunch at noon knows that the student union gets PACKED during that hour. Having some extra space to sit and eat would be great. You could just have some tables in there, or you could set up another food vendor or snack bar to make extra revenue. I think it would be nice to be able to sit in a space like that and munch.
Performance Space
As a music major, I think it would be fun if students could have some sort of public performance space. We could have concerts there, or just have small chamber ensembles sign up to play for a few hours. Having the experience of playing in public would be very fun, and you could even get some of the other groups on campus to use the performance space for flash mobs or dance showcases. You could even have karaoke nights there sometimes.
Bookstore Auxiliary
This one is probably closest to what’s going to happen anyway, but I think it’s worth saying. While Textbook Brokers is cool and has a lot of cool stuff, it happens to be on the other side of a very busy street where cars drive very quickly, and as a pedestrian it has always spooked me. I got this semester’s textbooks mailed to me so I wouldn’t have to cross that street. Having the campus bookstore space be a place where students can order and pick up their books would be great as a basic safety measure, especially for other students who are scared of crossing East Johnson Avenue.
Small Store
The old campus bookstore had a number of necessities you can’t find at the campus stores or at Textbook Brokers — umbrellas, tissues, medicines, makeup and even some electronics. Now that the campus bookstore is gone, students have no place on campus to get those items, which sucks if you don’t have a campus P.O. box or a way to drive to a store. Putting some sort of store with those types of items in the space would be a little redundant, but it would still be nice.
Miscellaneous
The room could also be or have:
* A study space
* A lounge
* An event space
* A computer lab with a printer
* GrubHub food pickup (especially for the new Ghost Kitchen)
I’m very interested to see what the space becomes, even though it may not become anything until after I graduate.
Categories: Opinion
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