It has been about six months since Old Union was completed after years’ worth of ongoing — and sometimes frustrating — construction. To the relief of students and administrators alike, Old Union has generally become a place students are using and using often. Scarcely a moment passes when students are not stopping by the Axe & Palm for a snack, sprawling out on the lobby’s couches to finish a problem set, meeting in one of the many conference rooms or dropping off checks at the Stanford Student Enterprises office.

That said, Old Union has by no means gone off without a hitch. Students still complain bitterly about the closing of the CoHo, lamenting the loss of its cozy warmth. The overly simplistic system of reserving meeting space favors the first group that reaches the schedule sheet, leaving many without access to space. Blank, sterile walls give the entrance hallway a sense of impatient formality — a formality that many argue does not befit a student union.

Now, before institutional inertia freezes Old Union in its current state, we must evaluate how happy — or unhappy — we are with our new student union. Most importantly, how can we change the space to make it better?

The sterile atmosphere that pervades the union is easily the number one student complaint about Old Union, and adding some sense of warmth would be neither difficult nor expensive. The walls can easily be filled with art produced by students, but the question is what sort of style we want. Perhaps the walls should feature pictures of sporting events, student groups in action or famous Stanford traditions and rites of passage. Meeting Services, which runs the operation of the unions themselves, should consider asking student groups to submit art to decorate Old Union. SOCA, the Student Organizing Committee for the Arts, would probably welcome the opportunity to have its members begin a rotating arts display.

We are not qualified to be interior designers, but the bottom line is that Old Union still feels more like Meyer Library than the CoHo, and something should be done to remedy this problem. Already, students are reading and talking about the temporary exhibit in Old Union titled “Speak Up, Speak Out: How Much Are You Willing to Tolerate?” — making it clear that students welcome such displays. Finding a way to adorn the empty yellow walls would be a giant step in the right direction. Either the ASSU or Meeting Services should make this a continuing priority — while improving the “atmosphere” may seem like a less tangible project than others, it is obviously something that students care about and a topic on which students have consistently voiced concerns.

The procedure for securing meeting space is another major concern regarding Old Union. To be fair, one of the great advantages of the new Old Union is the wide variety of places for meetings and conferences. One of the equally great disadvantages is that students have a hard time taking advantage of this space. Meeting space has been hit-or-miss for most groups. The schedule sheet process, which requires someone to physically come to the Union to sign up for space, would be much more user-friendly if it were available online.

Admittedly, putting the process online might open a can of worms. Because the current process for reserving rooms elsewhere on campus is notoriously difficult — requiring dual levels of approval — the simplicity of reserving meeting rooms at Old Union is welcome. Hopefully, we can avoid this level of red tape for Old Union while simultaneously making the system more accessible.

In addition to those spaces that are inconvenient to reserve, other spaces are difficult to access at all. The large common room on the third floor, for example, requires a code to get in. Why can’t this space be made available to students and student groups throughout the day?

Overall, we are happy with the way Old Union has turned out. The building includes good study spaces, a significant number of group work areas and the gorgeous third floor Sanctuary. Given these successes, it is time to focus on improving the remaining deficiencies to make Old Union a place that everyone can utilize and enjoy.