Tufts Community Union (TCU) President Mitch Robinson announced plans at last night's Senate meeting to push for the renovation of Hotung Café in response to student complaints about Tufts' social life.
The Senate's recommendations include new furniture, a better audio-video system and new televisions, Senate Historian Neil DiBiase said.
"The goal is to make the space more inviting as a social space," DiBiase said.
Robinson, DiBiase and the Senate Services Committee are also discussing plans to add alcohol to the menu at Hotung, which went dry about 10 years ago.
Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman told the Daily last week that the café stopped serving alcohol due to limited student interest.
"The product was going bad," Reitman said. "It wasn't a successful business model, and there was no outcry when it closed from students.
Student tastes, however, are different now, according to DiBiase.
"The climate on campus was such that people 10 years ago looked off-campus to socialize, but people are now looking on-campus," he said.
Reitman said that the Campus Center still holds a liquor license.
"We're looking at models at other schools to see how they make [serving alcohol on campus] work, but it won't make or break the project," DiBiase said.
The proposed changes, which DiBiase called "cosmetic, not structural," will be made in conjunction with renovations that were planned earlier. The café's menu will also change.
The service side of Hotung, including the counter area, will close on Nov. 18 so that renovations can begin, DiBiase said.
According to Senate Parliamentarian Andrew Caplan, the Senate announcement was spurred by recent student feedback as well as tensions between the campus and community over social life.
He stressed that the Senate's aim in this resolution is to use existing on-campus space to improve the situation.
This is one of the Senate's goals this year, according to Robinson. "The Senate feels that we should work together to make social life a key component," he said. "Basically, the idea for Hotung is to figure out a way that the administration, the Senate and the student body can work together to figure out a way to improve student life on campus."
The next step in the process is a town hall meeting, which will take place on Oct. 12 in Sophia Gordon Hall. Representatives from the TCU Senate, the Dean of Student Affairs Office, and the Tufts University Police Department (TUPD) will join students to discuss ideas for improving social life.
After the meeting, the Senate hopes to form a committee to outline all aspects of the renovation, DiBiase said.
Funds for the renovation will come from the Arts and Sciences budget, he said.
