This summer SPSCC’s Student Union Building, nicknamed the ‘SUB,’ will be renovated and construction will begin in April. The renovations are estimated to finish in fall or winter 2024/2025.  

First opened in 1989, the SUB used to be the hub of student activities and events on campus. But with the opening of the Library and its numerous student support services, foot traffic shifted to Building 22.  

Both Rae Watkins, President of the Student Body Senate, and Electra Gupton, the Director of Student Life, said the intention of the renovations are to bring students back to the SUB and remake the space as somewhere students can spend time outside of classes and encourage students to join events and campus activities and centralize where students go to get support. 

“I really hope that with the revitalization of this building we become a better community for students as well as a better community of support for students,” Gupton said. All plans will be subject to change due to construction requirements, limitations, and the physical feasibility of the ideas. 

Following the closing of the SUB cafeteria, the opening of the Clipper Coffee Café in Building 22, and the inconsistent hours of the Percival Restaurant, students were left with very few reasons to visit or hang out in the SUB. 

The goal of the SUB renovation is to unify International student support, personal support, housing, the DEIC, Student Life, and the enlarged café all in one building. Gupton said the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Center will be moving to the second floor of the SUB, along with the Office for Diversity and Equity. The Meditation/Prayer room, which currently exists on the second floor, will also be improved and made larger.  

“Building 22 feels significantly more homey and lively, the space is just filled better and you’ll find more people hanging around,” said Kofi Glessing, a Running Start Student at SPSCC, describing the differences between the SUB and the Library. 

Watkins and Gupton said the Student Body Senate, The Sounds Newspaper, and Campus Activities Board, will be moved to the ground floor of the SUB, the space formerly known as the Bookstore, which closed its doors (due to COVID in 2020)

As part of the renovation, the Food Pantry will share space in the former Bookstore alongside the Senate, Sounds Newspaper, and CAB room, and be expanded to meet the growing needs of the student body. Additionally, the Food Pantry will return to a grocery store model rather than the current prepack model. Until then, the Food Pantry will stay in Building 23. 

“Student Senate is really excited about this project in the way that this is a first step towards bringing some sort of campus life back and having a location for a cafeteria, if that were to be a future priority,” said Watkins.

While it will not be a priority this year, food and food access will become a priority in 2025 with the incoming senate. Until then, Watkins said on behalf of the Student Senate, “We’re really asking for student support in making this transition work. [It’s important to] come out here and spend time in this building.”