Carolina Union removes policy against sleeping in its meditation room

The meditation room in the Carolina Union will also function as a napping space due to recent policy changes made by the Carolina Union Board of Directors.

Board of Directors chairperson Boateng Kubi led the initiative to create a napping space on campus.

“We realized that after observing it for about a two-week period, the students were just not using it as frequently as we would like,” Kubi said.

The Meditation Room was established with an $11,000 gift designed to provide a place for calm and relaxation.

“I personally wanted to figure out why students weren’t using the room,” Kubi said. “So, I posed the question to the Board to make sure students know that the room was there and what it was being used for.”

In the Meditation Room, there are mats and cushions on the floor where students can nap. All other policies, such as no food or photography in the room, will remain the same. The room will not be reservable and will remain open to all students.

“I think it’s a good idea. People like to take naps everywhere,” Colton Sanders, a first-year mathematics major, said.

Taylor Bates, president of the Resident Housing Association and member of the Board of Directors, said there is a need for a napping space on campus.

“Furniture changes in the Undergraduate Library have created a demand for a napping space,” Bates said. “We’re hoping that the policy change will increase the usage of the meditation space.”

TJ Tucker, a first-year business and economics major, said he wasn’t aware that there was a meditation room in the Union.

“I definitely feel that a napping space would be a nice commodity to have,” Tucker said.

Tucker said he would use the Meditation Room now that he knows it exists.

“I usually take naps in the Student Union between classes now on couches or anywhere I can find a place,” Tucker said. “I feel that the napping place would be a lot more comfortable and a lot more accessible.”

Kubi said the name of the Meditation Room will stay the same and the furniture will not change.

“The decision of creating the napping space in the Union was because there’s currently no place on campus for students to rejuvenate,” Kubi said.

Kubi and Bates both said they expect the policy change will increase the usage of the room. They said they have already seen students taking naps in the room.

“Because it’s in the middle of campus, especially between classes, I feel like the space is a good idea,” Sanders said. “It’s easily accessible.”

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