The planned painting of club areas over winter break at Baruch College stalled after plans for an outside contractor fell through, leaving some areas to be painted and the Graduate Student Assembly area only partially painted as the semester began.
All club rooms, the club suite area, the media suite — where The Ticker is located — the third-floor hallway, game rooms and the Undergraduate Student Government and Graduate Student Assembly areas were all scheduled to be painted during the month-long break. When students returned to school, however, only the insides of USG members’ offices, the club suite area and club rooms were painted the chosen light blue color.
“Recent changes to the New York State contract procurement procedures, that we are required to abide by, would have extended the contract award time and completely miss the January window to start the work,” Assistant Vice President Lisa Edwards, who manages the Baruch Campus Operations department, wrote in an email to The Ticker. Administrators decided that it would be better to use in-house painters and work off hours to complete work on the 15,000 square feet of area by mid-April.
“The end result will be the same completion time as a contractor, however, with far less disruptions to the spaces as the Baruch’s painters can do quick start and stops in small areas. A contractor would require solid blocks of times in large areas that would have to be vacated for the duration,” Edwards wrote.
There is also the additional benefit of having substantial saving on the project with Baruch staff completing the work, she continued.
GSA was originally supposed to have its area completely painted by Jan. 25. However, on Jan. 24, an email was sent that explained that the room would not reopen until Feb. 5 as painting continued within, said Maria Markowicz, the GSA’s social media director and an e-board member.
“It definitely could have been a lot worse,” Markowicz, who is one of The Ticker’s former managing editors, said of the situation. GSA had to host a general meeting in the first week of the semester without their designated area, but Markowicz gave the Office of Student Life credit for finding a new location for the event right away.
“It did end up working out because it was a huge crowd that we probably [could] not even fit in our own room,” Markowicz said.
However, GSA does not have permanent location until they can re-enter their club area.
“Let’s be mindful of the space,” Radhika Kalani, president of USG told the rest of the senate during a public meeting on Jan. 29 as they wait to have their meeting room painted, asking them to make sure the walls stayed clean.
Work has already begun in the third-floor corridor that connects these club areas, and students will continue to watch and wait as painters slowly make their way through the semester.
