The University Center’s basement amenities including gym, art room and lounge will soon open up to students from throughout The New School, reversing restrictions that limited access to the building’s residents, administrators said.
Administrators still need to develop a security protocol for non-residents and plan on discussing those details during a Feb. 17 meeting, said Robert Lutomski, Assistant Vice President of Resident Life.
Full access could come that same week, Lutomski said.
The amenities “will be made available to all university students, with the exception of the laundry room, which will remain exclusive to residents of Kerrey Hall,” Lutomski said.
The broadened accessibility comes during a pilot program period that will allow students to use the University Center for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the vice president said.
The center’s basement floors, L1 and L2 opened at the start of the Spring 2015 semester. L2 boasts amenities which include a lounge, art room, gym, study hall, music practice rooms, and laundry. L1 is partially still under construction and houses two computer labs.
The University Center basement was expected to be finished by June 2014, according to the school’s website. But its opening was postponed after it flooded in January 2014 when a water main broke nearby under Fifth Avenue.
Amenities housed in the University Center’s basement have been accessible only to Kerrey Hall residents, administrators said.
The practice rooms on L2, were the only exception to this rule and were available to students all day every day as part of the same pilot program, administrators said.
“Any registered student in good standing with The New School may access these practice rooms via an online sign up system,” according to the school’s housing website.
Since the opening of the University Center basement students have voiced their disappointment with the restrictions surrounding basement amenities, namely the new gym.
“Most schools do have a school gym so, it is kind of weird that you have to live here,” said Julia Purcell, a Lang Arts-in-Context major.
Lutomski explained that the official operating status and internal configurations of both levels are still subject to change.