By Anthony Garcia
Student Unions on all three College of Southern Nevada campuses are set to open fall 2019. Construction is on time.
Richard Lake, assistant director of marketing and communications, said, “All three student unions have been on schedule throughout the process and they’ll all be open for the fall 2019 semester. There have been a few challenges on the project related to utilities but nothing so serious that we weren’t prepared. We had contingency plans in place in case of unexpected problems so we remained on budget and on time throughout and still are.”
Denise Coyco, CSN and University of Nevada, Las Vegas student, said, “The student union at UNLV is utilized as a place to meet, eat and hold events. I think it will help in unifying the CSN campus [to have a student union] and being another gathering place. I think it will be a nice place to meet or study with classmates and friends. Like I’ve studied in the computer lab before but I think having a student union to be a multipurpose building would be beneficial to any student.”
Construction began a year ago after students and faculty were involved in planning sessions, according to a College press release dated April 30, 2018. “Plans call for identical 25,000 square-foot buildings on each of CSN’s three campuses. Each union will have a food court, large and small meeting rooms, study space, courtyards, student government offices, advising offices, and a multicultural center and sitting areas.”
According to the same press release, the Board of Regents approved $80 million for the build.
Sherri Payne, senior associate vice president of facilities management, said funding the unions came from several sources with one source being student fees. “The Student Unions are funded through a student-credit registration fee. This fee was approved by both the Student Government and Board of Regents. The increase was $8 per credit registration fee for fall and spring semesters and $3 per credit registration fee for the summer. Once the student unions open there will be another $1 per credit fee for the operation and maintenance of the buildings.”
“Our students have been asking for these buildings for years, voting overwhelmingly in support of using student fees to pay for them,” stated in the President’s blog. “While these buildings will transform each of our campuses when they open in the fall 2019 semester, they will also transform the student experience. I am so excited for our students.”
Coyote Student News at the College of Southern Nevada 