The John Garrick Hardy Center, affectionately known as the “student union,” is now closing at 6 p.m., due to an incident of vandalism that occurred on Jan. 30.
Students did not agree with the university’s decision, even though they understood the gravity of the situation.
Many students feel that the student union is the only place that they can relax and socialize since inroom visitation has been interrupted since October.
Sophomore Demarcus Johnson, who is majoring in business management, belives the student union offers a safe place for students who do not have transportation.
“Students that don’t have any transportation off-campus rely on these restaurants,” and “I feel like it’s doing a disservice not to allow the students who don’t have that transportation on campus to get what they need here.”
Sophomore Roubert’ Allen, who is majoring in rehabilitation services, said that closing it at 9 p.m. is inconvenient.
“From personal experience, I will use the union as a shortcut instead of walking outside depending on the weather,” Allen said. “With the building closed, I feel like sometimes it messes up the convenience.”
He also believes it is unfair for the entire campus to suffer from a few individuals’ bad choices. He encouraged the campus police to check the cameras to figure out who and what was happening and check identification. Allen also makes a point about enforcing security: “Have the campus police on each floor or somebody roaming the floors.”
Michaela McKenzie, a senior a dance major, has experienced this before during her four years on campus, and she “feels like aside from food, many students use this as a safe haven or hangout spot to hang out with their friends.”
Sh continued.
“Many students don’t like the food in the cafeteria, so when they don’t have cars or they don’t want to go to DoorDash because that gets expensive, the union is all they have. They solely rely on the food in this building because they feel like they don’t have outside sources.” She said, “This change makes a significant amount of the kids on campus hungry at night.”
This change impacts two freshmen, Mckenzi Hollamon, who is a business major and Nevia Moore, a criminal justice major. Hollamon is affected by this change after her class. She says, “Because I have a class at 5:30, and then I get out at about 7:30, I really need something to eat.” Moore said: “Sometimes, I feel like instead of punishing the students, they should punish themselves and try to get more security here and let it be open. If we had the proper security, things wouldn’t be able to happen to the union.”
The John Garrick Hardy Center, or what the students know as the “student union,” is a place of uniting, connecting, and being with one another. It should be a place where students can come together to talk and mingle, yet the John Garrick Hardy Center, also known as the Student Union, closes at 6 p.m., restricting the students from being students.