Student Organizations Petition Against Lost Office Spaces
By Theresa Whitfield
Multiple student organizations will lose their office spaces on the first floor of the Pryzbyla Center at the end of the school year, as mandated by the Office of Campus Activities (OCA).
The Director of Campus Activities, Steve Kreider, sent an email to the leaders of Alpha Phi Omega, Black Student Alliance (BSA), College Democrats, College Republicans, CUA Gaels, CUA Student Organization of Latinos (SOL), Filipino Organization of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), and the Knights of Columbus to notify them of this change. In the email, he cited a lack of storage space for new clubs and lack of necessity to keep their current physical office spaces.
“In its infancy the 1st floor was a thriving active floor of student organizations working together, conducting in person business, and student leaders holding office hours,” the email read. “Over the years this has changed and we’re now at a place where our student organization offices just aren’t needed as they are designed, as a traditional office.”
The rooms on the east side of the first floor of the Pryzbyla Center accommodated approximately sixty student organizations at the time of its opening, according to Kreider. Today, the number of student organizations has doubled while the amount of available office space has been cut in half.
Further, Kreider noted how most of these clubs do not utilize the office spaces primarily as traditional offices, but rather as “large storage spaces.”
“Very few of your offices still have computers, and most of the ones that do, they’re just stacked up on a shelf in the corner collecting dust,” Kreider said. “Most of the spaces are too small to even hold executive board meetings with all of the furniture, storage items, etc. With the completion of the new dining hall approaching, we will be looking long term at how to redesign the remaining space in the Pryz to better accommodate all of the needs of the University and I envision the addition of much more storage space for student organizations in lieu of office spaces.”
To make room for clubs which have been denied storage space over the past years, OCA will provide 66 quart Sterilite tubs for organizations to store their belongings. These tubs will be kept on storage racks in the student organization rooms. The initial email stated Monday, April 19 as the deadline for the student organizations to move their belongings into the storage bins.
In response, BSA, College Democrats, CUA Gaels, College Republicans, FOCUS, the Knights of Columbus, and SOL united to petition OCA and the Associate Vice President for Student Engagement, Kathryn Jennings, to keep their office spaces. Alpha Phi Omega did not join the petition.
A letter accompanying the petition explained the student groups’ perspective on their pending eviction.
“If this decision is not reversed, and student body organizations are not consulted about the next steps, the efficacy of both the Office of Campus Activities as well as every single affected Student Body Organization is likely to plummet,” the petition read. “Consequently, student involvement and Catholic U.’s overall sense of community will decline. “
Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus Joseph Arbie argued against OCA’s claim that the clubs no longer need their offices. Without the space, he claimed, the organization’s service to the Catholic U community and the greater D.C. community will be limited.
“Reducing our office to merely bins will greatly limit the amount of service and events that we can perform during the year,” Arbie said. “We only exist now since we had an office during the COVID pandemic.”
Further, president of FOCUS Nico Magpantay explained the significant role the office plays in preserving the club’s legacy.
“We at FOCUS believe that the office space has helped house generations of past FOCUS executive boards,” Magpantay said. “Many of the items vary from costumes provided from the Philippine embassy, traditional dance props, as well as scrapbooks and past awards….Many of these items also benefit future boards in their mission to keep the FOCUS legacy. We have these items to value their use as well as to keep them as our sort of archive of the past. It has been a space where memories grew and we would like to keep it to honor those from the past.”
The letter also expressed the student leaders’ disappointment with their exclusion from the conversation or collaboration regarding the decision. Arbie echoed this sentiment.
“Frankly, it was wholly unprofessional,” Arbie said. “I am also saddened that cultural, service and political organizations are the victims of the evictions. These are pillar organizations of the university that are being pushed aside and negatively impacted so that our offices and organizational homes can become storage units for no more than ten student organizations. “
In a follow up email sent to the organizations included on the petition, Kreider expressed regret at not including the groups in the conversation beforehand. However, he did not reverse the decision, but instead extended the original April 19 deadline until the end of the school year.
