Students' access to the new and improved Alumnae Lounge will be highly restricted when renovations are completed next month, according to Sunny Breed, president of the Tufts University Alumni Association (TUAA).
"Part of the problem [that provoked] the renovation was ... the student use of the building," said Breed. "A table was broken, chairs were broken. This was not meant to be a student facility; it was built to be an event space."
Breed said that the renovated facility will be reserved primarily for TUAA meetings. Other groups that want to use the lounge will need to make requests to the TUAA, she said.
"It will be more tightly controlled for alumni use first, and then authorized for other use after that,"
Breed said.
Alumnae Lounge, located in the Aidekman Arts Center, is undergoing renovations that will bring new furniture, technology and flooring. The project is set for completion on March 22, according to Vice President of Operations John Roberto.
The Office of Alumni Relations relocated its offices to 80 George Street this summer, leaving behind the Alumni House, which is located in the middle of campus on Talbot Avenue. Alumnae Lounge, according to Breed, will maintain the TUAA's on-campus presence.
"It is going to be ... the [association's] on-campus footprint," Breed said. "It's where our meetings will take place and ultimately there will be signage saying it is the home of the Tufts University Alumni Association. We felt very strongly that we needed a visible presence on the central campus."
Breed said it is important for the TUAA to be visible to undergraduates on campus.
"All the students need to be aware that they're at Tufts for four years but they're alumni for a lifetime," she said.
