Honors program without a home

Since the closing of the Honors Program Office and the instatement of new program director Helen Fallon, many students have been confused about where to go and how to get their questions answered.

"We need an area for the students," Fallon said. "I have an office, but the students lost their lounge for holding meetings and a place to get ready for events, as well as a place to hold supplies and materials."

About six months after university officials took away their space, the nearly 300 members of the Honors Program remain without a home, profoundly affecting the way the department and the Honors Student Organization (HSO) operates.

"It was especially nice that you could walk into the office at any time," Ana Bird, a former work-study assistant in the Honor Program's Office, said. "You could get information on how to honorize a course or how many credits you needed to graduate. Multiple people would come in during a regular day to ask questions. So everyone knew where to go. We had a home base."

Bird, also a former vice president for HSO, has heard the same disappointment and confusion resonate with fellow students in the Honors Program when the office was turned over to the Pittsburgh Council of Higher Education (PCHE) and was left without an official space.

"All the universities I know of have Honors Program offices," Bird said, "and I think there is a reason for that. I hope that they will put it back because I think it creates a stronger administrative base for the Honors Program."

Honors students and faculty alike have been working since the removal of the Honors Program Office and student lounge to see that a new meeting space is created. However, no plans have been made yet.

Originally, a letter was sent from Fallon and Jamie Inferrera, the HSO president, in late September to Provost Charles Perkins requesting a "reallocation of space on campus to reinstitute the Honors Program study lounge."

Although several meetings and discussions have followed the letter, no space has been dedicated. Fallon had requested the former smokers' lounge outside the Point Cafe as a temporary space, but conflicting needs for the area left the issue unsettled.

"The real problem is we don't have a home. That means our students have no place to gather for their meetings. We're just scattered," Fallon said.

When students could not reach a resolution, some took the matter to United Student Government (USG) in hopes of seeing more progress.

USG President Sidnie Stevens plans to meet with the provost in hopes of figuring out the new direction for the Honors Program.

"We have to see where they see the Honors Program going," Stevens said. "Hopefully then we can get a better understanding of what we can do or what we want to do."

Part of the issue is deciding whether the Honors Program needs a student lounge.

"The Honors Program getting an office we can do, but a place for honors students to hang out we don't feel we can justify giving that space," Stevens said. "We are in the process of making a commuter lounge. How can we justify making an Honors Office for 300 students versus a commuters' lounge for 3,000?"

With the issue still unresolved, the Honors Program remains without an office and its students without a meeting place.

"I'm just very disappointed this is the end of January and it still isn't resolved," Fallon said. "We have over 270 students on our roster and it's hard to keep the enthusiasm going when you don't have a home."