UNC could get a new union from student input

UNC might get a new union — and students will soon be able to voice their opinions.

A feasibility study is being conducted to assess the state of the Student Union. The study is gathering information about other university unions and will be given to the student body, who will decide what will happen to the current union, if anything at all.

Boateng Kubi, chairperson of the Carolina Union Board of Directors, has helped kick-start this process.

“Our union building has been here since ’67, ’68, so the late '60s, and there has been no in-depth assessment of, like, the facilities and services that are being provided,” Kubi said. “So with the change in Union leadership, there was a decision to kind of assess how well adapted the Union facilities were to the 30,000 Carolina students we have today.”

He said the process of analyzing the shortcomings of the current union began last semester and continued into the summer. The Union Board of Directors reached out to summer school students first to understand how students were feeling about the Union.

Kubi spent the rest of the summer working with a team comprised of students and members of the administration to research recently remodeled student unions at other universities including the University of California-Berkeley, Texas A&M, Ryerson University in Toronto, High Point University and the University of Houston among others.

This team, lead by Vines Architecture — a Raleigh architectural firm hired by the Union Board of Directors at the end of last semester — conducted the first part of a feasibility study by visiting these unions and learning about the reconstruction process.

Kubi said the goal of the feasibility study is to gather the information necessary for enabling students to make an informed decision.

“So we’ve been doing a lot of visits at different sites to really see what our union is missing and inform the feasibility study,” he said. “The feasibility study really is an assessment of the facility and of how students use the facility and of what students want from the facility.”

McKenzie Millican, a senior sociology major tapped to join the team, reached out to the Board of Directors after learning about plans for a potential new union.

“As somebody who is a frequent user of the Union, I had a lot of thoughts, both on how the facility could be improved and how, operationally, how, from my perspective, I thought the Union could work better,” she said. “So I tweeted them like 40 times, all in a row.”

After gaining the Board of Directors’ attention, Millican received the opportunity to join the team.

“So they invited me to go on this next leg of their feasibility study, which was to Toronto to go to Ryerson University, which just built a new facility that’s actually an extension to their library,” she said. “And then we went to Berkeley, California, to tour UC-Berkeley.”

Now a non-voting member of the Board of Directors, Millican plans to continue with the feasibility study and take part in focus groups designed to learn about students’ opinions.

“Since coming back, I’m going to be involved with some focus groups. The Union is a space for students, run by students, so we need a space that’s going to accommodate what the needs for the student body are,” she said. “So the best way to figure out what those needs are is to ask students what the Union is not doing for you now, what could it be doing for you in the future.”

The feasibility study is slated to be finished by the end of December. After finalizing the data — including information gathered from the visits, a projected financial plan and several possible courses of action — the Board of Directors will make this report available to the rest of the student body. Student government will initiate the referendum process.

“It’s been a really, really, open process. We’re having focus groups where we’ve been reaching out to student populations around campus to really try to bring them into conversation of how they use the Union, whether they like the Union, what would they like in the new union if there was one,” Kubi said.

Kubi said the final decision ultimately belongs to the student body.

“It’s always going to be what the students want from the building. Should the students choose something then that’s the direction administration has to go, because this is the Student Union and it’s run by students,” he said.

Director of the Student Union, Crystal King, said the entire process revolves around the students at the University.

“This process really is to take a deep dive, comprehensive look at student life on campus and the way the Union, the Carolina Union affects that life on campus,” she said.

“I want to make sure students are well positioned to make decisions to go out there and really lead our world. A union is a great microcosm for learning about that, I believe.”

King says students will have the opportunity to take part in a preliminary survey process this fall.

“Starting after Labor Day, a ten-day survey will happen,” she said. “Every single student on our campus gets the opportunity to weigh in. The Union is a place that serves all students, so I want everybody’s voice to make sure we are doing that as effectively as we can.”

The data gathered from this survey will help inform the feasibility study and provide insight into students’ opinions.

While Vines Architecture will design potential models for a new union based on the data gathered in the feasibility study, King believes the student body should — and will — determine which direction to take.

“I would be the champion of making sure that it’s still very student centered,” she said. “My personal opinion would be that it really stays an opportunity for students to have a piece of Carolina that they control.”

Neil Harwani, president of the Carolina Union Activities Board, said it is important for students to voice their opinions.

“It’s as simple as hashtagging UNC union ideas and you can say something,” he said. “That’s how McKenzie went on the trip, by reaching out over social media.”

The process of renovating — or demolishing and rebuilding, depending on the outcome of the referendum — the Student Union will take several years, but Kubi said all the hard work will be worth it.

“Students do generally care about the Student Union and what it’s doing. Should there be a project conducted, a lot of students will not be here to see it completed,” Kubi said. “I’m a senior; I will not be here to see the completion of the project.”

“It’s about leaving that legacy for future Tar Heels. When we talk about a Tar Heel print, what does that mean?”

Students will receive the data gathered from the feasibility study in January.

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