The Student Government Association and the Student Programming Association have a new meeting space located near the student union in the former cardio room.
This repurposing is beneficial not only to members of these organizations, but for all students. Since there is now a definite place, students will know exactly where to find the SGA and SPA meetings, which are always open to the public. The SGA meets at 4 p.m. on Mondays and the SPA meetings are on Thursdays at 3 p.m.
Brandie Toups, the director of Bollinger Memorial Student Union, was one of the leaders in the push to utilize the facility. She wanted a nice venue for the student leaders to use.
“The idea behind it is that it’s their meeting space, so they can’t be bumped by another group. We have limited facilities at times, and we have a lot of people and organizations,” Toups said.  
Sometimes, the way calendars fall, University events would affect a scheduled meeting. Toups said she wanted the SGA and SPA to have a space to call their own. Each organization will get a key to the space, so that they will be free to use it as often as necessary.
SGA President Melissa Cloutet, a business management senior from Covington, said that before there was an official room, meetings were sometimes inconvenient, and confusion stemmed from the changing of locations.
“We bounced around everywhere. We were in the Plantation Suites, the third floor of the library and the Captain’s and Carnival room. It’s really nice that we have a room of our own now,” Cloutet said.
For Adam Lefort, the vice president of SGA and a business management sophomore from Thibodaux, the new space is a great place to discuss their ideas and is a place to call home.
Everything that the SPA does is open to students, whether it is events or committee and executive meetings. Every student is already a member of the SPA, because there is a fee built into our tuition. It is up to the student to decide how involved he or she will be.
Rusty Bruce, president of the SPA and a history senior from Galliano, said that before the new space was available, he was scheduling meetings almost a year in advance. It was always very hectic and was a hassle to find a central location for students.
“I’m excited to see the SGA and SPA being able to come together and work on this project for our students. I would like to thank Senator Dane Vizier in the SGA for spearheading the project and Brandie Toups for making it possible to utilize the space,” Bruce said.
SPA Publicity Director Taylor Degruise, a psychology senior from Thibodaux, thinks that the renovation was a great way to use a room that was sitting empty and unused.
Grant Ordoyne, an elementary education senior from Thibodaux and a member of the SPA, said, “Because it’s a bigger space, we can have more people come to the meetings, and we can increase attendance.”
There are already ideas about changes to the room in the future. There may be new paint, as well as an actual renovation to make new meeting rooms around the size of the Captain’s Room within the space.