After more than a year of renovations, the new Old Union is finally open. Tomorrow’s noon dedication ceremony will kick off a week of celebrations to highlight the newly renovated student union’s facilities.

EnlargeEnlarge
New Old Union’s inaugural week will feature reopenings of student group spaces including El Centro Chicano, Native American and Asian American community centers, and a performance by an unnamed Grammy-winning musician on Friday. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/7844
Alvin Chow

New Old Union’s inaugural week will feature reopenings of student group spaces including El Centro Chicano, Native American and Asian American community centers, and a performance by an unnamed Grammy-winning musician on Friday.

Tomorrow’s ceremony will be led by Provost John Etchemendy Ph.D. ‘82 and will feature performances from a variety of student groups. It will be followed by a variety of events in the coming week, including the re-openings of El Centro Chicano, the Student Activities Fair and a 10 p.m. Friday performance by a Grammy award-winning artist whose name officials refuse to disclose.

Director of Student Unions Jeanette Smith-Laws hopes that the variety of events will cement Old Union’s place as a center for student expression.

“I think that everyone will find niches here,” Smith-Laws said. “When you come in you’ll find that anything is possible. You might find a jazz series going on or watch the screening of a film.”

The three buildings of Old Union, which were originally built in the 1920s, are also welcoming back some old inhabitants. El Centro Chicano will return to its home in the Nitery, one of the buildings in the complex, which will also house a black-box theater for student productions. The Asian-American and Native American community centers have also returned to the Clubhouse, another renovated Old Union building. Meanwhile the central building will accommodate the ASSU and the Offices of Religious Life and Student Activities.

In addition to the groups returning to their previously held spaces, there are a number of noticeable newcomers to the buildings, including a new cafe designed to replace the CoHo, which recently closed down.

Smith-Laws said Old Union’s facilities were designed with flexibility in mind.

“All the furniture moves,” she said. “You can create any kind of set-up depending on the need.”

According to Smith-Laws, the philosophy underlying the new complex is that students will be able to take the lead in determining how it is used. Whereas Tresidder Union is primarily a retail and administrative space, Old Union is designed as a hub of student activity.

“We have a programming committee, but the intent is for Old Union to provide open flex space for all kinds of student ideas,” she said. “We want to become a hub where anything is possible. I have been extending invitations to students to come seek me out and bring me ideas and my calendar has been filling up with all kinds of groups.”

Smith-Laws said FLiCKs and several performance groups have already come to her with ideas for programs. She is also keen on hosting the products of various class projects.

“Students create these wonderful things and then they just sit in their rooms,” she said.

Old Union may also be a source of income for student groups. During the summer, when students groups are often dormant, the renovated space will be rented out to conferences in order to generate revenue that can flow back into student activities.

Because the building is student-oriented, Smith-Laws said Old Union will continue to change with the needs of the groups it serves.

“The Union will evolve,” she said. “It’s hard to say what it will look like a year from now.”

Contact Rahul Kanakia at rahkan@stanford.edu.e