New furniture placed near the atrium of York College. PHOTO CREDIT: Marc Torres
By Marc Torres
This month new furniture was placed throughout the atrium. This new furniture comes from an initiative announced by the Student Government Association that will not only bring new furniture, but other amenities as well in an effort to improve the environment at York College.
“We’re bringing in a lot more furniture,” said Ashley Nandlal, an SGA senator. “We’re going to get three 20-seaters and massive couches. We’re also going to get a couple of three-seaters, two-seaters, and one-seaters.”
The push to buy new furniture is part of a much bigger plan proposed by the SGA that serves to update York College as a whole. The initiative was pushed by SGA President Yssed David Tobo, who was granted permission to go forward with the proposal earlier in the semester.
“Since our building is pretty old, we’re trying to modernize it internally as well as externally,” said Nandlal. “The president, David Tobo, was pushing the initiative last year and he finally got it in this semester once he became president.”
The effort to update York College arose from a series of complaints made by students who criticized the SGA in the past for their problems with expenditure of student activity funds.
“We are trying to fix a lot of the expenditure issues many people say we’re having,” said Nandlal.
Rising concerns about the condition of the college, including when elevators and escalators will be repaired, have been part of an ongoing conversation at the York College campus. Students have been worried about how their money is being allocated to fix these issues.
“There is a six-year plan regarding the elevators,” said Nandlal. “We’re going to be fixing two escalators and two elevators at a time.”
Construction outside the York College building itself has ceased, but Nandlal said that this is only temporary as there are more changes coming to the buildings in the near future. Other changes will be occurring inside the college buildings and around the campus.
“Something we’re trying to do is to get turnstiles at the entrances,” said Nandkur Jagrood, executive director of SGA. “You would just swipe your ID like how you swipe your MetroCard to go on the train to get into the building.”
Technological changes like this can surely update York College from the inside, but that won’t be the only technological change coming. According to SGA members, there will also soon be kiosks on every floor of the academic core building that will be similar to the many kiosks in New York City Streets where people have access to wifi, usb ports to charge their phones and the ability to call people. While the funding for them has been approved, SGA is still looking for a way to acquire quality kiosks at a price that isn’t too high.
“We’re also trying to get more automated doors,” said Nandlal. “I know right now the health building is the only building with an actual automatic door. You can press a button and the doors will open for you. So, we’re definitely trying to cater to disabled students and faculty.”
With more pressing concerns at hand like the poor state of the bathrooms at York College, SGA members have also allocated money for these renovations as well.
“We heard a lot of complaints about the bathrooms,” said Jagrood. “The project has been decided and renovations are supposed to start anytime soon. Hopefully by the end of this year we will get the bathroom situation settled.”
The budget for all of these renovations has already been approved, according to SGA representatives. This massive overhaul of York College is slated to begin by the start of the 2018 school year, but changes such as the new furniture are already happening.
“We actually have an itemized list of budgeting,” said Nandlal. “The school’s money is being used to not only better students’ lives, but life in general at York rather than just for aesthetic purposes. We are here for the students because we are students first.”
