A Brief Report on Community Lunch Discussion
A student forum was held during community lunch last Thursday to discuss the upcoming construction planned for Union Theological Seminary. Benjamin Perry, who hosted and facilitated the discussion, also led the chapel preceding lunch. During his sermon, Perry alluded to the stress that housing changes and construction might cause in the coming year, telling congregants that “We might not be able to change the external circumstances, but we can change how we react to them.”
Perry opened the discussion by asking people to discuss in groups around their tables the things they loved about Union’s community and the things they found challenging.
Though some students were concerned with the quality of campus community, much of the conversation around the room focused on lingering anxieties about housing.
When Perry asked what administration could do to be helpful during a time of transition, one student brought to our attention the occasional hallway blockages that have been caused by renovations and the potential fire hazard they represent. (Those who attended the housing portion of fall orientation will remember that, unlike with New York apartment buildings that are up to code, residents of Hastings and McGiffert should evacuate the building in case of a fire.) Another student raised a concern about construction noise interrupting student routines and suggested that students should be informed when such noise might take place to allow them to plan accordingly.
Other student questions about the day-to-day impact of construction went unanswered, as one student asked how much of the quad will be accessible during construction and was met with a reminder that this was to be a discussion forum about student suggestions, and not a time to answer questions about the finer details of construction plans. Though several students expressed a belief that answers were not being provided because the administrators simply did not have them, this did little to lessen their worries.
Meetings to address students’ housing concerns have taken place throughout the year, but anxiety still permeates the student body. As of the writing of this article students who applied for fall housing at Union still do not know where they stand. Nicole Tan, whose partner is a Union student, made the choice to move from Hastings to McGiffert in an effort to improve her chances to have housing in the fall. Though Tan has a full-time job, she does not believe she and her partner could afford to live in the Upper West Side area without student housing.
Saorsa Wissman, a co-chair for the Disability Justice Caucus, has been involved in meetings for several months now to hold Union accountable to ADA accessibility standards. She noted that the initial blueprints for the renovated Hastings did not meet ADA specifications for accessibility. Wissman pointed out that McGiffert is not an accessible building. The only ramp entrance is too steep to be safe for wheelchair users, and the door to that entrance is heavy enough for able-bodied persons to struggle to open it. While there are currently no students at Union who use a wheelchair, Wissman made the point that ability is mutable, and at any moment a student might come to need greater accessibility. (One also has to assume that if a prospective student did use a wheelchair, they would be unlikely to choose Union.)
According to Wissman, the process of working with Union to bring blueprints up to ADA standards and ensure that students have accessible housing during the construction phase has been a difficult one. She was told in response to some of her concerns around renovation work in McGiffert that Union no longer owns the building, and therefore does not have agency over the process. Describing a conversation around having accessible doors installed in Hastings, Wissman asked, “Why should it take three months for us to advocate for something so basic?”
The broad range of concerns raised by students during the forum demonstrate the sense of anxiety and distrust pervades much of Union’s student body around the issue of housing. Though the discussion at community lunch was meant in part to help Union students prepare to cope with the future stress of living on a campus under construction, present worries about housing status dominate student concerns. It will likely remain difficult to have a conversation about living in community with one another until we are certain that the community we depend on will remain.