By Jimmy Weng
On any given night in the Curry Student Center, almost all offices and meeting room spaces can be found in use by the over 200 clubs and organizations at Northeastern.
But with the number of student groups and organizations steadily growing, the amount of office space in the student center is shrinking, which means more student groups are starting to lose the space they once had.
The Student Center Governing Board (SCGB) inspects the space and interviews each group for the renewal process for their one or five-year lease.
While registered student groups must re-register for office space each year, certain student groups are granted a five-year lease by the SCGB to promote the community life at Northeastern.
“These student groups are a valuable part of the student center and student life,” said Nicole Martino, chair of the SCGB. Martino, who is responsible for the office leasing process, will meet with each student group that has renewed their expired lease application this year to tour their office space.
While the one-year leases are examined each year, many five-year leases, such as the Council for University Programs and the Student Government Association, expired two years ago, said Allyson Savin, current CUP president and former chair of the SCGB.
“It was something that partly got overlooked. The nature of the five-year leases is that they dont change that much,” Savin said. “What needed to happen and what Nikki [Martino] was successful in doing is taking a look at the process in which the five-year leaases were determined and assessing a need for the space.”
The Vietnamese Student Association, who obtained an office space annually for the last three years, were among those turned down this year due to a wave of strong demand from other student groups.
“It’s simply not fair,” said Nhu Nguyet Phan, president of VSA. “Our office space gave us a location to hold meetings, coordinate events and store our equipment … Now we’re scrambling to find a meeting room while using our own laptops. It definitely cuts into our time and productivity.”
Other student groups, such as the Honors Student Council (HSC), have chosen to sit out the battle for office space to book a location at the beginning of the semester.
“It’s not worth it,” said Elizabeth Fang, president of HSC. “To book a room is much more convenient than getting office space because you can schedule it easily through the CSC Scheduling Desk. For office space, there is this whole application process.”
All registered student groups are first reviewed on their contribution to the enrichment of the Northeastern community to determine their significance and importance to student life. Groups with specific missions, such as SGA and CUP, are granted a five-year renewal lease to perform their agenda, while registered student groups must renew each year.
Savin said she does not know how SGA decides their own office space because the issue was not dealt with while she was in her position.
“We had so many appeals in the regular lease process [from other student groups] before my term expired which is why Nikki was looking at it,” Savin said. “But there’s a good question.”
