The wheels have started to turn.

According to SLUnion Planning Committee members Lubna Alam and Mike Rozier, the committee has met several times this summer to discuss plans to convert the Busch Memorial Center into a viable student union.

The committee, which was created last semester to oversee the decision-making process about the future renovations of the BMC, is made up of five undergraduate students, which include Alam, a junior, Rozier, arts and sciences senator, and Mike Cappel, Student Government Association president. Also on the committee are one graduate student, one faculty member, one staff member, two alumni and Kathy Humphrey, vice president for Student Development. The committee is chaired by Kathleen Brady, vice president for Facilities Management and Civic Affairs.

According to Alam and Rozier, the committee has spent its summer meetings going over old surveys and studies about what facilities and resources students would like to see in a union on Saint Louis University’s campus. Based on these studies and conversations with various student group leaders from campus, the committee has compiled a wish list of possible plans for the BMC to submit to architects. After the architects respond to the committee about which items from the list are reasonable options for the existing structure, the committee plans to ask students for feedback about the possibilities.

“Our goal is for the renovated BMC to truly be a building for students,” Alam said. “We’re going to make sure that students have as much input as possible.”

Some of the items on the submitted wish list include:

 more meeting rooms

 expanded dining facilities

 better facilities for chartered student organizations, including storage space

 a bookstore

 a large ballroom or auditorium

 aesthetic improvements

“The BMC just isn’t serving all the needs of the students. We want to make it a place students want to go to not just for meetings, but also as a place to hang out,” Alam said. “Students should feel more than free to contact SGA if they have any suggestions.”

According to Alam, the committee has discussed what will happen to existing offices and facilities in the BMC while renovations are under way but has made no final decisions.

Brady will address more specifics of the project, including the timeline, at the Sept. 12 SGA meeting.