N-L survey highlights student backlash to the closure of MSE
Reporting about the SGA, not a record of it: The Johns Hopkins News-Letter published this and the SGA did not write it, file it, or approve it. The archive holds it because the article itself uses the phrases “sga” and “student government”.
Summary
- This Johns Hopkins News-Letter article covers student responses to the closure of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library and the campus’s replacement study spaces.
- The News-Letter reported that MSE closed for renovations expected to cost $100 million and take two and a half years, while Brody Learning Commons remains open.
- The paper reported that 75 surveyed students rated the closure’s impact at 7.41 out of 10, compared with an average prior-use rating of 8.08.
- The article says that students rated the new study spaces 3.51 out of 10; sophomore Rhea Singh said, “I feel very distraught [about the closure of MSE]. That used to be my main study space every day, where I’d go after one class ended, and now I need to find somewhere else on campus,” she said.
- According to the article, Dean Elisabeth Long said students can give feedback through an ongoing survey and that the University had added power towers, a vending machine and outdoor tables in the MSE Annex.
- The reporter writes that Student Body President Stone Meng said responses showed “widespread dissatisfaction with the current campus alternatives” and that he had raised concerns about the sudden closure of the MSE patio.
- The paper adds that Meng sent a resolution on behalf of SGA seeking a 5% tuition reduction and programs including subsidized transportation, more student-organization funding, expanded classroom access and reopened pathways.