The Memorial Union (MU) will be renovated some time in the near future, with plans including a remodeling of the East Wing, additional lounge space, an area for live entertainment and a pub.
The timeline for these renovations is still vague, as ASUCD is seeking input from students in various organizations.
The MU is a central place for students to eat, study and just mill about before classes, so a renovation could be a successful way to model the MU in students’ image. UC Davis has already seen this success with the ASUCD Coffee House (CoHo); a simple redesign and decent food and drink options has made it very popular with students.
Starting with simple solutions could be the best move. In the main halls of the MU, a good coat of paint would improve the now-blank expanses of wall. Matching this with a continuation of the CoHo theme and color scheme, or perhaps even a mural, could liven up the appearance of the MU immensely.
Another possible improvement would be the addition of a group study space. Griffin Lounge is a great quiet place to study, but a room in which to discuss moral relativism or assignments like group projects would prevent students from having to go all the way to Shields Library.
However, simple solutions are no fun. Let’s design our dream MU. The MU is somewhat naturally lit by the sun coming through the clear glass doors, but a skylight would brighten up the building better than that.
We just need to make sure we keep the skylight away from the nap room containing beds and hammocks. We’ve heard ideas for a dedicated nap room before, but something always seems to come up to keep it from happening. Building codes? Fire hazards? Come on, we’re college students; we don’t let anything keep us from having a good nap.
The nap room could present a problem, however. Imagine you wake up, groggy and disoriented. You check your phone for the time and realize that your bus is going to leave in 30 seconds! Well, that’s no problem if we install those moving walkways that you see at the airport from the MU doors to the Unitrans bus stop. Sleepy college students need only stumble out the door and let the walkway do the rest. The only problem with such a perfect scenario is that obesity rates on campus could rise, but it’s worth it.
We could also commission the engineering department to make a bunch of robot butlers, so that we could sit outside with our friends while the robot gets everyone’s coffee and burritos. If we make people pay the robot depending on the difficulty of the task, ASUCD could actually see a profit with this idea…
Oh, who are we kidding. A fresh paint job and maybe some student-drawn signs, a mural if we’re feeling fancy, should be enough for the MU.
