Macaulay CSI Students Claim Larger Space

The Macaulay Honors Lounge at the College of Staten Island has recently doubled in size, thanks in no small part to the work of Meagan Derbyshire, class of 2013. During a meeting with CSI President Tómas Morales in 2010, the class of 2013 brought up the fact that the Honors Lounge was terribly undersized, and Derbyshire suggested expanding into an adjacent, underused room.

After some time, Derbyshire met with Ira Persky, who was appointed over the summer as CSI’s temporary Financial Vice President. During their dialogue, it became apparent that Persky and Morales were interested in expanding the Honors Lounge, but they were unsure of which space to use. Derbyshire once more recommended the Discovery Institute’s office, which boasted a staff of two despite its large size and prime location. Roughly two weeks before the start of the semester, Macaulay’s acquisition of the room was approved.

Part of the reason that overpopulation in lounge wasn’t much of an issue until recent years is the exponential increase in Macaulay CSI’s admission rates. The number of students admitted in 2011 is roughly double that of those admitted in 2008; whereas 2008’s incoming freshmen entered a community of ninety fellow Macaulaians, those admitted this year found themselves in the midst one hundred and thirty eight. With such increases in population, the once-spacious Lounge came to be known as patently undersized, with seating at a premium and operable computers rarely available.

The old Honors Lounge has been refurnished with cubicles and square tables considered optimal for studying and completing work; the new space holds more comfortable seats and round tables, as well as lockers and the Macaulay student mailboxes. While many are pleased with the arrangement, some believe the conversion of the old lounge into a study room is “pointless” and will not encourage students to complete their schoolwork. Others also dislike the “lopsided” utilization of the new space by the Class of 2015.