▲ College of Humanities Lounge in Building 98

As the construction of the College of Humanities began after the reconstruction of the College of Economics & Business was completed this year, the Global Lifelong Education Center (Building 98) is being used as the College of Humanities. Since the already constructed building had to be used temporarily, the limited lecture rooms were divided into nine departments. Assignment of department lounges was difficult because the allocation of lecture rooms, department offices, and professors' labs were given priority. The building before the relocation was a building that could accommodate departments belonging to the College of Humanities, so each department could have one lounge. However, due to the lack of lecture rooms, lounge in the College of Humanities was created where all departments had to share, and students who were dissatisfied with the current situation, appeared.

As a result of a survey on the necessity of a private department lounge for students belonging to the College of Humanities, a total of 201 people participated. For the question, ‘Do you like the current lounge in the College of Humanities in Building 98?’ 15 students at the College of Humanities who took part in the survey answered, ‘like it,’ and 186 people, ‘did not like it.’ Currently, 92.5% of students are dissatisfied with the lounge in the College of Humanities. The reason why they liked the lounge with the most answers was, 'good facilities,' but only eight people selected this item. On the other hand, 190 students (94.5%) answered that they needed a department lounge.

To classify the necessity of the department lounge in more detail, before moving to Building 98, the results were checked by dividing the students into those who had used the department lounge when each lounge existed in the building and those who had never used the department lounge. The students who have used the department lounge accounted for 54.7%, and the students who haven't used it accounted for 43.3%. For the question, 'what they felt was an uncomfortable point comparing the current department lounge,' the students who had used the department lounge answered this way: ‘There is no comfortable place to stay when classes are not in session or until late hours (23.5%),’ ‘It is a public space used by people from various departments, so it is hard to eat there (22%),’ ‘There is no space to chat with people from the same department before and/or after major times (19.1%),’ and, ‘Lack of additional facilities such as refrigerator, microwave, and sofa (11.5%).’ Incidentally, the students who haven't used a lounge answered, 'It's awkward to use the same space with other students (40.8%),’ 'I want to get to know the students who have the same major (22.1%),' and, 'They haven’t used a department lounge, so they want to use it (18.7%).’

The College of Humanities students who participated in the survey most frequently mentioned, "clear space separation," as what they wanted if a department lounge was created, through descriptive answers. The reason was that they wanted to form a bond with the students of their department by strictly controlling the access of students from other departments. There was also an opinion that if the environment to make a lounge for each department is not realistically created, the current public department lounge will be moved to a larger space and various additional facilities and supplies should be provided.

Building 11, the former College of Humanities building, had many resting facilities, from study rooms to reading rooms to lounges, for each department. Therefore, compared to the current temporary building, we were able to receive the survey results that emphasized the necessity of the lounge for each department. After the completion of the College of Humanities in 2024, the need for a lounge will naturally be resolved. However, students at the College of Humanities will have to spend about a year in the current department lounge before completion. Now that students have aired their complaints about the current lounge, the College of Humanities should take an active step to collect students' opinions about the department lounge.

By Kim Na-young, cub-reporter  skdud2986@naver.com

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