New look, new leadership for Reynolds Club

The new Reynolds Club will be open from 7 a.m. to beyond midnight and will offer new lounges and study spaces as well as new offices for many of the student organizations on campus.

The renovation, scheduled for completion during autumn quarter, is part of a plan to improve the quality of student life on campus.

"The idea is to create a space that students feel is truly theirs, as well as one that will offer students a great place to be late at night. With this new renovation, the Regenstein coffee shop won't be the only place on campus to meet friends and hang out after midnight," said Bill Michel (A.B.'92), newly appointed Director of Reynolds Club and continuing Director of University Theater (see sidebar). Working with Michel at Reynolds Club will be newly appointed Assistant Director Charles Farrell and Program Coordinator Tom Perrin (A.B.'95), as well as Robert James, who continues as Manager of Mandel Hall.

The first floor of Reynolds Club will feature a completely renovated north lounge, which will now be a student lounge with new furniture, computer jacks for laptops and a selection of newspapers from around the country. The first-floor hallway will become a student marketplace, with tables where student groups can promote their organizations and hold such fundraisers as T-shirt and poster sales. The University box office will be moved closer to what will be a renovated entrance to Mandel Hall.

The second floor will feature a student lounge and game room in the space formerly occupied by Career & Placement Services, which is moving to Ida Noyes Hall. This lounge will include pool tables and cable TV and will be the future home of a student-run coffee shop. A smaller lounge will be available for meetings and discussions, and an outdoor deck is planned for future construction.

The third floor will remain the center of University Theater activity, with some renovated theater offices. The basement will house the College mailroom as well as office space for student groups, fax and photocopy machines for student use, ATMs, a piano room and the Student Organization Computer/Graphics Center, which will feature several new Macintosh computers.

"The basement will be the hub of student organizations, with the first-floor lounge more of a study center and the second-floor lounge more of a social center," said Michel. "But the entire building is designed to make movement and social activity incredibly easy. This is going to be an exciting place to be. There will be something interesting happening on every floor."

Ida Noyes Hall is also currently being renovated. CAPS will occupy the second and third floors of Ida Noyes, and the Ida Noyes basement is being rebuilt with new offices for the Council on University Programming, the Major Activities Board and the Chicago Maroon. Doc Films, the Folklore Society and Law School Films will also have offices located in Ida Noyes Hall. These are the only student groups not scheduled to move to Reynolds Club.

The Student Activities Office will direct the groups in Ida Noyes, while a newly formed Office of Reynolds Club, run by Michel, will be responsible for the groups and activities in that building.

A permanent Reynolds Club Student Council will advise Michel on a day-to-day basis.

"Students will be able to have an active role in determining what the building will offer the University community," Michel said. "Indeed, most of the current renovation is based on what students have stated they wanted to see in a campus student center."

-- Jeff Makos