In case you missed it, and it’s quite likely you did, Club Halle’s Kickoff was this past Thursday. Unlike previous years, the event was a sign of Student Government’s fiscal restraint.
Holly Knick, a senior studying secondary education mathematics and student government’s director of student affairs, was in charge of planning the event.
“This is something that we’re actually testing out,” Knick said. “With all of the changes like not giving away things, cutting money on food, cutting hours, we’re seeing whether students still come. Because then it’s really the bare minimum of the library being open. In the past, we were clouted by the food and the free t-shirts to know whether it was being used for the right reasons.”
Jeffrey Chicoine, a senior studying international affairs and vice president of student government, said the cuts to Club Halle were part of a more general initiative by him and student government President Jelani McGadney to carefully scrutinize the efficacy of all programs sponsored by student government.
“Since Jelani and I took office, we’ve been scrutinizing everything in the budget,” he said. “Our big thing about Club Halle is not so much that we don’t like it. We weren’t sure that success was being measured properly. If we were measuring success on how many people showed up and ate bacon, then that probably wasn’t the best way to figure out how successful the program was or how many students really needed it.”
McGadney, a senior also studying international affairs, said student government’s intention is to provide a 24-hour environment for earnest studying. He said he questions whether Club Halle accomplishes it.
“That’s a question I’ve been asking – is this really something that students need?” McGadney said. “If you take away all of the gimmicks and the only reason so many people are using it is because of that, then I have to really start questioning is this something that students really want?
“I’m not saying I need a majority. If there’s enough of a chunk that is really utilizing it, then I’ll make sure we use the funds. But if this is not working, then I have the job to find another way so students can have some sort of open space to study and prepare for finals.”
A large part of student government’s reluctance to continue to invest in Club Halle as in previous years is the event’s enormous cost.
“This is the biggest cost a student organization will probably ever have,” Knick said. “It’s $900 for the library student workers, $960 for the academic project to stay open an extra 16 hours, between $600 and $700 for the Holman Success Center to stay open. That doesn’t include the food. It’s about $1,500 for this year’s food. It’s really expensive.”
Knick put these costs in context by comparing this year’s expenses those of previous years.
“In the past we spent up to $6,000 on food,” Knick said. “We paid $900 for the library and that’s because we cut hours. We cut out two days and a couple hours on the weekend. Usually it’s $1300 for the library.”
Knick estimated this year’s Club Halle cost student government approximately $4,000. A quick look at the expense report for Club Halle’s first year revealed it cost student government approximately $21,000.
“This is the student’s money,” McGadney said. “I take that very seriously and try to be a good steward.”
Bernice Lindke, vice president of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, commended the efforts of student government to refocus Club Halle.
“I was impressed with student government’s desire to survey the students on usage of Halle Library,” Lindke said. “The students who answered said they use Club Halle mainly to study or there was a good number that didn’t use Club Halle at all. The food wasn’t really the attraction.
“The other thing the students did was look at usage patterns during certain hours. The result was they were glad to work with Tara Fulton, the dean of Halle Library, to come up with hours that they thought that students would be interested in. I was greatly impressed with their desire to take ownership of this, because this was their initiative.”
In previous years, student government received financial support from the Residence Hall Association. However, Knick claimed that they declined to continue that support this year.
“I asked [RHA] this year to chip in,” Knick said, “but I’m assuming their budget was cut just like everyone else’s.”
Samantha Stamper, president of RHA and a senior studying communications, refuted Knick’s story.
“This year we weren’t asked to sponsor Club Halle,” she said. “We had full intentions of sponsoring it this year but somehow there was miscommunication at some point. During the summer we had meetings with Holly Knick. We were intending to sponsor it again this year. Last year it was half-and-half with RHA and the student government for both semesters. We sponsored half of it and so did they. It was 50-50.”
The dissonance between the two perspectives was brought to the attention of McGadney, who was deeply concerned by the discrepancies but confident they were not a reflection of student government’s relationship with RHA.
“What’s being experienced could be [an error in] communication,” McGadney said. “I’m very open to that being the problem. If that’s the case, then I will make sure we do better. This is a matter of making sure we work with students.
“I can say for both parties, whatever it may have been, it was done in good faith. I’ve worked well with [Stamper] and her advice and vice versa. We sit with [RHA] on committees and so I know that despite this blip, I know our good relations will continue.”
Financial woes aside, Matthew Rutkoske, senior studying information assurance and a senator in student government, said the administrators of Halle Library seemed apprehensive of continuing the event.
“They worried about their students being up and having hours, because they’re students and this is around finals time,” Rutkoske said. “We had issues with that, but they wanted to work with us. You also have to worry about which floors you’re going to have open, the cost of electricity.”
Monica Wade, a senior studying hotel and restaurant management, was working the circulation desk with Jieron Robinson, sophomore studying communication and theatre arts secondary teaching. Wade said it wasn’t hard to find people to work the extended hours during Club Halle.
“I think it’s gotten easier as the semesters go on and people become more aware of it,” she said. “There’s a sign-up sheet and all the slots are filled so I don’t think there’s as much stress as there was the first semester that they did it.”
Robinson agreed.
“Everyone that wanted to work signed up. It’s not like they had to pull anybody’s ear or anything,” Robinson said.
Adam Madar, a junior studying anthropology, has been a computer lab attendant for about a year and was working Halle’s lower level computer lab on Kickoff. Madar said the extended hours during Club Halle are nothing new for computer lab attendants.
“Most of us are used to some sort of midnight shift because the Student Center is open 24 hours,” he said. “We man that lab as well. So this is not that big of a stretch.”
Knick commented on the 24-hour availability of the Student Center computer lab and said its under-utilization is part of what concerns her about the usefulness of making Halle available 24 hours.
“We have a 24-hour computer lab in the Student Center,” she said. “I don’t think people know we do. The problem is that parking is not 24 hours. The lab is open but you need to find a place to park to walk to the lab. I think having a 24-hour library would be the same thing. You can’t park in any of these lots between 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. unless you’re a resident. If we had this open 24 hours, no one’s going to use it because no one has anywhere to go.”
Matthew Kiser, a junior studying urban and regional planning, attended Kickoff and criticized student government and Eastern Michigan University as a whole for not extending Halle’s hours more often.
“What university doesn’t have a 24-hour library in general?” Kiser said. “At least have it at finals. This is a university. You’re supposed to be paying for us to have an environment that’s conducive to studying.”
Many students share Kiser’s opinion and point to schools like University of Michigan that have libraries open 24/7. Knick said EMU is a unique school and can’t be compared directly to places like U of M because so many of our students are commuters.
“We’re a heavy commuter school,” she said. “People come to class. They drive home. They have a desk at home. They have time where they study at home.
“We have a lot of people who are coming back who have kids. They have night classes and then they go home to their kids. A lot of people don’t use Club Halle as it is now because they commute. They don’t drive out here and stay all night.”
Knick continued to contextualize the problem by explaining the administrative difficulties inherent in making parking for commuter students available 24/7.
“During Club Halle we have a parking lot,” she said. “The Oakwood South Lot is no hangtag required during Club Halle hours. I had a meeting with [the Parking Deparment] at the beginning of the semester to get that taken care of. They don’t mind it for a week and a half. However I think they would mind for an entire year.”
Chicoine wasn’t able to make it to Kickoff because of how far he lives from campus.
“By the time I got out of here it was 9:30, it had started to snow, and I didn’t want to drive home much later than that,” he said. “I live an hour away.”
Chicoine said the university’s large commuter population makes event planning difficult for everyone.
“That’s the question that is asked on every level in every meeting all over the university,” he said. “How do we design things that are commuter friendly? I don’t think anyone has an answer to that to be perfectly honest. I don’t think there is one answer. It’s something that is really relevant and important for EMU. So it’s a question that we always ask and that we’ll ask retrospectively.”
Ethan Winstead, a junior studying accounting, has attended Club Halle all three years and appreciated the reserve displayed in this year’s Kickoff.
“I feel like this is great what they’re doing for the university by keeping the library open for 24 hours,” he said. “People need resources to do good in school. This is a great thing they’ve got going.
“I’ve been [at Club Halle] throughout my three years. I feel like every year there’s something different. Last year they had the DJ’s. It was more of a party atmosphere. This year they’ve calmed it down. It’s more of a study session so you can get your work done. I like it more. It’s more productive.”
Stamper understood the reasoning behind student government’s cuts to Club Halle but said she thinks the extra programs that were part of the event in previous years were a valuable part of the experience because they helped students relax.
“We liked having those things that could help people get their mind off of studying and take stress away,” she said. “We see why it was cut because it is about studying and we’re paying to keep the library open so that people can use it to study. But we definitely think it’s important to keep in mind the students who study in different ways and release their stress through those programs.”
When asked whether RHA would be interested in helping Student Government to fund these programs, Stamper didn’t hesitate. She said RHA values Club Halle immensely and wishes to support it in the future.
“We definitely support Club Halle,” she said. “I think the majority of their attendees are residents, and I think it’s really helpful to have a quiet environment that students can go to study. Pulling all-nighters in your bedroom is really hard to do. A place that’s open 24 hours for students to go and study is really helpful.”
The only other major concern Stamper had, she said, was she felt strongly that Club Halle should begin a week earlier, because that’s when most students start studying for their exams.
McGadney said he’d need to see interest in the event before more money could be invested in it.
“A lot of this sadly comes down to numbers,” he said. “I would love to cater to each and every individual student on the basis of their study style. However, I am not equipped to do that. If the numbers are strong enough that students want [extended library hours] a week early, then it’s my duty to make sure that it’s open.”
Despite the struggles student government is facing in ensuring Club Halle’s success, Chicoine said they will likely continue to sponsor the event, but will likely assess further changes that might increase its efficacy.
“Any time you put a program on, you analyze it afterwards and ask what worked and what didn’t work,” Chicoine said. “If we come to a conclusion amongst the executive board that it’s just not working as a program, then I think it is a possibility that we may not continue it. More likely is that we’ll come back and see how we can improve on it. That’s usually where we go first.”
McGadney said another factor student government has been considering is whether students utilize Club Halle for Halle Library’s vast supply of study resources or simply as a place to hunker down with a laptop. In effort to maximize Club Halle’s usefulness to residents and commuters alike, McGadney said future versions of Club Halle might not take place in Halle at all.
“We’re a society that’s moving online to get our resources instead of books,” he said. “I think books are a very useful source, but if you look at the wide range of where students get their information, [they rely most on] the Internet. And you can find good sources, journal articles, newspapers, books on the Internet. So that’s one of the things we’ll be discussing in the upcoming semester is how we’re going to approach Club Halle if not at Halle Library. Perhaps have it at the Student Center, or RHA has had the idea of having it in DC1.
“We’re really looking at a place where students can study 24/7 but not necessarily at the library. That could potentially bring down costs. It would also better gear towards residents and commuters. We could maybe have one of the food places open with some light snacks, fruits and things of that nature.”
