Starting a Student Center

Baruch was recently featured in the Princeton Review for being one of the best colleges in the region. Such a laudable ranking is a testament to the quality of the students entering and graduating from Baruch. We have also made it to three other ranking lists: "Nobody Plays Intramural Sports,"  "Scotch and Soda, Hold the Scotch," and "Got Milk?"  

The college has downplayed such rankings, labeling them as "light-hearted," and spins them by describing the low level of alcohol consumption on campus on our website.  However, all of these three rankings have one thing in common - they are attacking ‘student life' here on campus. 

It's no secret that many Baruch students are unsatisfied with the quality of student life at this institution. You can visit threads online and talk to the students here who will all tell you the same thing - the students here go to class and then go home. However, this does not hold true for the students who have discovered the other world, what I call ‘Narnia', on the third floor. 

The right half of the third floor in the Vertical Campus features the heart of this college (not to be confused with the left half, which seeks to torture student with Baruch's intro classes). Unfortunately, while practically every student has sat in the 500 seat lecture hall in VC 3-150, few know of the club area, game room, radio station, USG, and Ticker offices on the other side of that floor. 

Ten years ago, one could make the argument that students who came to Baruch didn't care about that stuff. Today, nothing is farther from the truth. Our students are still very career-oriented, but they want to grow their networks and have positive college experiences as well.  

Former College President Stan Altman said it best — Baruch is in the midst of a "paradigm shift" and that we have to focus on building this college for the next "50 years" today. 

However, only students who are a part of a club/organization — some sort of community on campus — gain the true Baruch experience. The experience of meeting amazing people in the most diverse college in the nation, creating an ever-expanding network with a highly motivated peer group, and having a positive experience on campus with more career opportunities open to them.

The new Baruch student will be more successful with the greater level of personal development built from such relationships and experiences. 

It's hard to imagine Baruch without the Vertical Campus. It was the vision of then-Baruch College President Matthew Goldstein, who is now the Chancellor of the City University system, to have a campus where student life can grow. We should continue building on that vision and honor the legacies of this institution's past administrators, faculty, and alumni by focusing on student development and making the necessary investments.

Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Ben Corpus has been a champion for such initiatives during his tenure here at Baruch. He understands the importance of harnessing the energy and spirit of the student body and creating resourceful programming to continue building student life. He has often spoken about the next large investment that needs to be made, and that is the establishment of a Student Center building.  

Undaunted by CUNY's reluctance to provide funding for such real estate, Dr. Corpus told a story about how the students at Arizona State University, not the University, made a multimillion dollar state-of-the-art Student Center possible.  The students at Baruch can do the same.

Imagine a place with large overstuffed couches and coffee tables. Students there are simply socializing, napping, or flicking through the flat screen monitors to catch the afternoon Mets or Yankees game. They can get a cup of coffee or a quick sandwich and enjoy it with WBMB's broadcasts lightly playing in the background.  The smells of mocha would drift through a dimly lit pool hall, with pros showing off their skills and table tennis rookies playing between classes. There are videogame and an arcade room with a Dance Dance Revolution waiting line. In the center of it all is a dance floor where students can let loose Thursday nights.

Baruch can increase its rankings with a Student Center in place. It is only a matter of time until that day comes. If we all work towards this common goal, that day can come sooner than you think. Maybe one day it will be hard to imagine Baruch without a Student Center, and we'll be scratching our heads thinking what we did before this. But for now, I hope more people are able to find Narnia and make the most of their college experience here at Baruch.

Tanvir is a former USG president.