SGA expresses concerns about MUC operation hours

Doug Wagner, director of the Muenster University Center (MUC) and Student Programming made an appearance at the Student Government Association’s (SGA) weekly meeting Tuesday night to discuss the new MUC hours.

Starting at the beginning of this semester, the MUC cutback its hours and now closes at midnight. Wagner offered SGA clarifications on the new hours of the MUC and answered questions from the Senate.

Their questions and concerns included whether this would be temporary, the finances of keeping the MUC open later and if the hours would be considered around finals week.

Wagner informed SGA that the average number of students in the MUC after midnight is eight students, roughly costing $64 dollars for the MUC to be open until 2 a.m. He also explained that the MUC hours would be adjusted during finals week to accommodate study schedules.

Wagner said he realized students have concerns but that they could come ask any questions at any point.

“I live my life as an open book, so if you want to sit down with me I can show you the 90 pages of data I have,” Wagner said. “Stop by, let’s have a conversation. I think transparency is a core value for the MUC office.”

Josh Sorbe, SGA president and junior economics and political science double major, said he appreciated Wagner’s information.

“I think Doug Wagner did a great job tonight presenting the statistics behind the MUC hours decision,” Sorbe said. “Next week, we’ll be inviting the dean of the library to discuss the library hours as well. From what I understood, the opinion definitely swayed toward understanding the administration’s position.”

Based on the data from Wagner, the Senate decided to continue discussing Senate Resolution #6 next week.

This resolution proposes that SGA members serving on the General Activity Fund (GAF) committee refuse funds to the MUC until they can explain why the change in hours is in the student body’s best interest.

“Just because these are changes we made based on data given what time of day, we may reevaluate it after a year,” Wagner said. “We’re always in a period of reevaluation. If the data states we go in a different direction, we will do so.”

Madison Green, SGA vice president and senior English and criminal justice double major, said she thought Wagner’s explanation helped students to understand why the MUC hours changed.

“I think a lot of the confusion was a reaction and not a lot of people knowing fully why the administration chose to do this,” Green said. “A lot of the confusion had to do with the library hours changing.”

The senate also discussed Senate Bill #76, regarding changing the dates of the elections, which they will revisit next week.

“I think the purpose behind the bill is that we have this beautiful facility where we’re live streaming meetings we want to make it as exciting as possible for the new executive candidates,” Sorbe said.  “The part I appreciated the most was requiring the executives to give a winning speech. It puts the face to the name so I think that’d be really exciting for them to address the student body as a whole.”