Allexis Fuchs

Social Media Editor

For over fifteen years, the new University Center at ESU has been planned and repeatedly delayed. Throughout this process, the university has generated excitement amongst ESU students by announcing projected opening dates, only to push them back.

When the university officially broke ground on November 17, 2022, students were told that the new University Center would be completed by the start of the Fall 2024 semester. However, the timeline has continued to shift, first to Spring 2025, then Fall 2025, followed by Spring 2026, and now, Fall 2026.

Each delay adds a layer of growing frustration among students.

In the Fall of 2024, Lilianna Kelly was an incoming freshman, with the promise of a brand new University Center.

“Truthfully, this University Center better live up to the expectations that students and parents have held for literal years. We’ve waited so long for this that if it’s not worth all of the hype ESU has created around it, it would be disappointing,” said Kelly.

Despite this ever-growing frustration from students and parents, the many delays of this new University Center have, in some ways, united students in solidarity.

“The collective frustration towards the opening being pushed back on multiple occasions has, in a lot of ways, brought students closer. I have hope that the opening will do the same. Students are looking forward to more resources, options, and, honestly, just a change of scenery, in general,” said Kelly. “Along with that, the introduction of Grubhub and the opening of Chick-fil-A have been long-awaited. Overall, I’m excited to see what the new University Center has to offer us, and I can only hope it’s worth all the time we’ve waited.”

I myself was an incoming freshman in the Fall of 2024, excited to have access to food like Chick-fil-A, the theatre and a new place to sit and study on campus. The University Center we currently have gets incredibly hot, and that is no place for a good study session.

It’s been nearly two years since my Freshman orientation date, and I have yet to get my paws on Chick-fil-A.

I have been inside the new University Center as a student worker on campus, and it is truly amazing. It’s heavily ESU-branded, sleek and modern. It makes ESU feel like a proper university seemingly catching up with the times.

While it’s nice, it does lack quite a few things. While touring, we did not see a computer lab in the new University Center. The lab in the current University Center has saved me more times than I can count. From printing right before class to just sitting down and getting a few assignments done, it’s been crucial in my two years here. When asked about it, the guide leading the tour explained that she was unsure if there was going to be one.

For our commuter students, my biggest worry is the commuter lounge. Going in, I fully expected a lot more for our commuting students, considering they make up most of our student body. However, what I saw was about 50 lockers to place your items in, and not in a commuter lounge, might I add. There was room next to said lockers we didn’t go into, so maybe I’m being presumptuous, but it did not seem like there was a lot to offer our commuter students.

ESU’s senate chambers are incredibly notable, with the Student Government Association (SGA) this year distributing $1.9 million this year for the Student Activity Fees for the next academic year.

The senate chambers we currently have are mostly wooden, with the seats cascading down from the top. The new chambers did not resemble those at all. With barely any room to move around, it was a glorified classroom. It was very modern with little to no character to the room. With the amount of work SGA puts in, you’d assume they’d get a chamber that equates to that.

The Stroud Courier also has a new room in the new University Center, which is what I was most excited to see throughout this tour. As I approached the office, I noted how on top of our room it said “Newspaper”, but with every other organization in the building getting their name on it. WESS FM had just that, not “Radio Station.” They deserve to have their name in big, bold letters because they worked hard for it.

Interestingly enough, though, the Stroud Courier has been around for nearly a century, which pre-dates many of the organizations at ESU, including the Student Activity Association (SAA). In fact, the Stroud Courier is the whole reason we are Warriors.

With the Spring semester coming to a close, there is still so much progress for the university to make in completing the new University Center. Students are slated to move in mid-August. They have a little over three months for the new University Center to come to life. I have high hopes for it to be better than what I saw in March.