If there's one thing students and UF staff can agree on, it's that there isn't enough space in the Reitz Union.
"We're outgrowing the Reitz Union," said Jordan Johnson, chairman of the UF Student Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.
"It is a central location for students, whether they want to grab a bite to eat or do business, and the No. 1 struggle that I have had in Student Government is being able to find sufficient office space for student organizations because we have so many," Johnson said.
So when the former Office of Student Activities was moved to the north side of the hallway, the prime, newly vacant space on the third floor of the Reitz Union caught Johnson's eye.
"I knew it was something we had to jump on," Johnson said.
By the beginning of the spring semester, about 20 student organizations will have brand-new office space in what was once the Office of Student Activities.
Johnson said construction began about a month ago and is underway. The student-government funded project will cost about $40,000, he said.
The Office of Student Activities was moved and consolidated with the Student Activities Center to become the new Center for Student Activities and Involvement, said Mike Mironack, director of operations for the Reitz Union.
"The goal was to concentrate where staff were so students wouldn't have to go between offices trying to figure out who's where," Mironack said.
The space measures about 1,800 square feet, Mironack said.
The Reitz Union Board of Managers will choose the organizations that will stake a claim in the newly available spaces, he added.
"Usually at the start or early part of spring semester, we will let folks know through notices and advertisements that applications for space are being accepted from the board," said Mironack, who is an adviser to the Reitz Union Board of Managers.
On the applications, groups must state their purpose, membership numbers and why they need office space or a storage facility, Mironack said.
The Space Committee reviews the applications and interviews the organizations before space is allocated each year.
Groups that already have space are generally allowed to keep it, unless they fail to turn in office logs about hours spent in the office or fail to use it sufficiently as deemed by the committee, Mironack said.
When complete, the new offices will be equipped with desks, chairs and storage space large enough to hold poster boards and other materials.
"Organizations will actually be able to use that to store anything for the big-to-small items that their group uses, and it will alleviate a lot of the student money that goes to renting off-campus storage spaces," Johnson said.
The organizations will also receive computers that have been used for 1.5 years, he said.
The computers were previously used at the Student Government computer lab, which will be removed after a fall technology upgrade.
The new offices will help fulfill a constant goal of SG - to provide for students and student organizations, which, if registered, receive SG funding, said Kevin Reilly, Student Body president.
"We have almost 800 organizations, so the organizations always need more space," Reilly said.
