The University Park Student Fee Board convened Friday morning to begin its recommendation deliberations and hear a second, facility-focused allocation request presentation from the LGBTQA Student Resource Center.

LGBTQA Student Resource Center Director Brian Patchcoski and HUB Senior Director Mary Edginton presented plans for the Center’s proposed move to the expanded Robeson Gallery in the HUB.

Patchcoski, presenting to the Board for the second time this cycle, reviewed his organization’s mission, staffing, and annual programs with a focus on the benefits of a larger space. The SRC formally opened in its current Boucke Building location in 2001.

“[The Center’s current location] is probably dated, congested, and it really doesn’t really do justice to the Center as it stands today,” Edgington said.

She and Patchcoski noted that the expanded HUB space would be about twice as large as the Boucke location and would allow the Center to expand its programming and support efforts.

Patchcoski also said that Interim Vice President for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion Peggy Lorah would have an office in the new space, which will reportedly retain a visual arts-inspired design identity.

Patchcoski said he wants the center’s artistic goals to focus on “(pushing) the human mind to think about culture change in a way that integrates identity.”

The Center requested $565,000 in funding for the new space, about half of its projected total cost of $1-1.25 million. Construction is scheduled to begin in May, and the center is expected to be ready for occupancy in August.

The Board then began to review the requests presented to it over the course of the last several months and deliberate ahead of its final recommendation vote, which is currently scheduled for March 1.

Board Chair Tyler Akers noted that if the Board was to fund all of its requests at face-value, assuming a slightly increased enrollment to 46,000 students, the student fee would increase by $13 to approximately $280 per student.

The Board reviewed and deliberated on several request and established a general, though unconfirmed, consensus on two of them ahead of its official decision. Members seemed to initially agree on a $490,000 allocation for Student Legal Services, and suggested a consensus of a grant of level funding for the Gender Equity Center.

The Board seemed supportive of an unconfirmed, proposed five-year payment plan for its allocation for the LGBTQA SRC’s planned expansion of the Robeson Gallery. Deliberations on funding for the Paul Robeson Cultural Center, Student Childcare Subsidy Program, Counseling and Psychological Services and the Student Orientation and Transition Program were inconclusive. The Board will revisit each request before making its final decision.