If you ever study or do homework in the Horn Center, you may have noticed some drastic changes being made to the building. The university higher-ups are trying to reform the Horn Center from a lesser known version of the library to a holy edifice of student success. However, in their attempt to squeeze every ounce of usefulness out of the Horn Center, it has become less functional and more irritating.
For those of you who are completely clueless, the Steve and Nini Horn Center is located between the Gold Mine Gym and the CBA building.It contains the largest computer lab of any CSU campus, housing 247 PC stations, 26 Macintosh computers, an 802.11b wireless network and the Technology Help Desk. It was formerly known as the North Campus Library and the North Campus Center. It used to be a great alternative to the library if you wanted to study, do homework or use a computer.
Now the university has other plans for the Horn Center. They have moved the Academic Advising and Learning Assistance Centers from the main library on upper campus down to the Horn Center. By relocating these important offices, the university has dramatically increased student traffic in the Horn Center. It is not longer a quiet place to study, but a madhouse with every seat filled by 9 a.m.
University bigwigs have also placed giant LCD displays on the walls as a part of their new computer sign-up system. The sign-up system is fast and efficient (eliminating the need for dozens of well-paying ACS lab tech positions), but the LCD displays are horrible and gaudy. You can’t miss them, you even see the ugly back end of one immediately as you enter the building from the front entrance.
If you ever have trouble printing in the lab, like dozens of other students, you will definitely have trouble finding someone to help you. The ACS lab techs no longer wear easy-to-find blue vests; instead they have flimsy nametags. They also no longer have control over the desk formerly used for signing into a computer station. That desk now sits abandoned. Also if you ever try to call the ACS lab number, they rarely answer the phone.
No doubt you have noticed the change in furniture with the new brick style rolling ottomans. It was a nice try getting new furniture for students, but it would have been better for them to realize the real function of those seats, and simply put in a row of beds for student siestas. The rolling ottomans simply turn into bumper cars and are randomly distributed throughout the building by noon.
One of the few useful resources remaining in the Horn Center is the wonderful Technology Help Desk whose support representatives sit eagerly in the front desk station waiting to help students, faculty and staff with password and technology problems. They will always greet you with a smile and guide you to find one of the hopelessly hidden offices located somewhere else in the building.
I am hoping that the changes the university is making to the Horn Center are only temporary due to the construction in the South Library. The university higher-ups should be aware that the more they change day-to-day functions on campus, the more they disrupt normal student habits. It only makes things harder when offices are hidden, or when help is hard to find.
Ben Haeuser is a senior music education major.
