Although an official final report has not yet been completed, Project SLUnion survey results are in.
More than 1,200 surveys were tabulated by Student Government Association work-studies.
“I am happy to report that is was a great success,” said SGA President Jay Perry.
Interest in the survey appeared to be centered more on the younger students with freshman submitting the most surveys followed by sophomores, juniors, graduate students and finally seniors.
Most students supported the idea of a centrally-located student union with 81 percent agreeing and 10 percent somewhat-agreeing.
Regarding services offered by the current Busch Memorial Center, many locations are never used, according to the responses. More than 93 percent of students have never used the MacLennan Gallery or the Meritek Travel, both located on the main floor of the BMC.
Between 35 and 45 percent of students have never used the student-oriented services such as the coffee house and Billiken Club, both located on the lower level of the BMC, and the Marketplace, whose dining facilities close at 2 p.m. Although the coffeehouse and Billiken Club do serve as areas where students can study, all three dining facilities are closed on the weekends.
A large majority of students, 85 percent, thought a student union should be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Similarly, majorities existed in support of a consolidated food system and the idea that a student union should rank student needs first.
Other issues that resulted in less conclusive results included questions about a possible pharmacy, college pub, banking service, news stand, convenience store, computer lab, movie theater and dry cleaning service within the BMC.
The average student, according to the responses on the surveys, utilizes the BMC 2.9 days per week. Also, on a scale of one to five, with five being the highest, the average student opinion of the BMC was a 2.5.
“I look forward to working with the University community to take what we learned from Project SLUnion and make the needs of the students a priority for the new millennium,” Perry said.
Along with the surveys, a total of more than 1,000 signatures were obtained on petitions. The final report will be presented to the Saint Louis University Board of Trustees on Dec. 10.
