Students and faculty praise new benches in Old Main
Students and faculty gathered in Old Main at Utah State University to be the first to sit on the new third floor benches at the College of Humanities’ Bench-a-Palooza event Friday morning.
Iain Laurence Benches and power outlets now line the hallways of old main, a new feature this year.
According to Joe Ward, the dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the bench project was made possible through contributions from USUSA and staff member Chris Okelberry.
“Speaking on behalf of faculty and students on the third floor, we frequently saw students sitting on the ground between classes and we saw these benches as an opportunity to help students,” Ward said.
Iain Laurence Dean Joseph Ward of CHASS cuts the ribbon for the new benches in Old Main.
While there has been seating available on the lower floors of Old Main the third floor, where the political science and history offices are located, had none until this week. The new benches also include electrical outlets for students to charge their phones or laptops while working on homework before class.
“These are going to make Old Main look much classier, now that we don’t have to sit on the floor anymore,” said CHaSS student Bentlee Rice.
Students described navigating the third-floor hallway in the past, stepping over other students’ legs and charger cords to get through. One student mentioned that perhaps those that don’t frequent the halls of Old Main may not understand the hype for the new benches.
Former CHaSS college senator Grant Bess said, “Some Aggies don’t fully grasp the pain in the CHaSS we had going without these new benches. This is one of the bigger accomplishments of the classroom improvement fund of USUSA as far as I’m concerned.”
After Dean Ward thanked facilities for their work building the benches and cut the ribbon to officially “open” the benches for business, students and faculty sat down together as many other students will do in the upcoming year.
– naomiyokoward@aggiemail.usu.edu
@naomiyokoward