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CAMPUS

The Norwich Guidon
Nov. 13, 2003

Harmon lounge to receive new furniture, upgrade

By Marc Allerdt
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

The lounge area of Harmon Hall is getting some pretty harsh criticism these days.

"It just looks so bland," said Josh Creighton, 21, a senior communications major from Scituate, Mass. "It looks like a hospital waiting room. It's not very welcoming."

And Creighton isn't alone in that opinion. That's why money has been set aside for the student senate to renovate the upper floor and make it more attractive to visitors.

Creighton said he and other students "put up signs and put some stuff on CLiC but we really didn't get that much support from the students, so maybe they didn't see the flyers."

Gen. Michael Kelly, Commandant of Cadets, gave the student senate $2,500 of the school's budget, so they could get started on the project.

"We wanted to do something to help out the students, and the idea arose from myself and Craig Orlando, president of the club, along with a few other people on the senate, as a possibility of maybe seeing a change in upper Harmon," Creighton said.

The student senate plans to upgrade upper Harmon by adding a new big screen TV on the other side of the room, getting rid of the stadium seating, putting in some sofas, adding tables and chairs, cleaning up the carpeting, tiles, revamping the pool tables, and also removing obsolete items such as the air hockey table.

"The first phase is really getting rid of the stadium seating," said Jenifer Hasenfus, Norwich international student adviser and study abroad coordinator.

"We need new furniture, because the students are really hard on it so we need something that is going to last," Hasenfus said.

Becky Buckley, 21, an architecture major from Granby Mass. took all the ideas the student senate had and brought them to life through her sketches on paper.

"It was really a collaborative effort as to what we wanted the room to look like," Buckley said.

Craig Orlando, 21, a mechanical engineer major from Hubbardton, Vt., and also president of the student senate, said, "the first phase is going to be like a face lift; we are tearing the stadium seating out, which has already begun, and we are also going to clean up the carpeting, [buy] new furniture, couple of new TVs; that is faze one."

According to Orlando, phase two will start around Thanksgiving time, when everyone is out on break.

"We plan on setting up a TV in the corner, all new furniture, move all the pool tables to one side to make a game room, then put all the chairs and tables on the other side," he said. "We hope to get rid of that hospital look real soon."

The Norwich Guidon is a twice-monthly student newspaper distributed at Norwich University. It provides laboratory experience for students in the Communications program. Claims asserted by letter writers, editorials and other articles do not represent the positions of Norwich University. The Norwich Guidon welcomes signed letters to the editor. They should be no longer than 300 words. Unsigned letters will not be printed, but names may be withheld upon worthy request. All letters are subject to editing for length and good taste. Mailing address: The Norwich Guidon, Communications Center, Norwich University, Northfield, VT 056632. www.norwich.edu/guidon. If you have any questions or comments about the paper, please contact Professor Ken Bush at kbush@norwich.edu.