Fall school year brings new look to student union for Lopers
By Alana Kellen
Antelope Staff
Students were greeted with a new and improved Nebraskan Student Union this school year. A $6 million project brought in a full functioning Starbucks and a brand-new Chick-fil-A to attract both on-and off-campus students.
For returning students and incoming freshman, the idea of having a more popular restaurant and a full Starbucks is exciting. New looks and better food will attract these students to the downstairs food court.
Carli Anderson, a junior business administration major from North Platte, likes the new look of the Union. Anderson appreciates how quiet and more spacious the Union looks for studying and relaxing purposes.
“I think it’s good for the University to have this newer looking building,” Anderson said. “It makes it look more modern.”
Chick-fil-A has had a lot of buzz since students found out they were getting one on campus. Michael Christen, UNK director of business services, said that Chick-fil-A was a top choice, if not the top choice that students voted to bring to the Union. People are excited because it’s a popular restaurant. Christen looks at the new restaurants from a recruiting standpoint. Students come to campus for admissions and school tours and see names they recognize.
“Chick-fil-A is popular with college students,” Anderson said.
Freshman Collin Lothrop, a marketing major from St. Paul, said that he eats at Chick-fil-A and Subway the most because it’s where most of his friends go to eat between classes.
“I like how everything is laid out in the Union.” Lothrop said. “The tables and chairs surrounding the restaurants, so you don’t have to walk too far for anything.”
Christen points out that students are utilizing the Union for more than just the food court. Students are in the Union all day doing homework, relaxing and grabbing a bite to eat.
“We expected numbers to go down, especially retail being used way more, but in the first week we actually saw a 74 percent increase of retail dollars being used compared to last year at this time,” Christen said. “As far as the Market and Louie’s, we only saw a 1 percent decrease in usage.”
Lothrop approves the modern look of the Union. The construction makes it annoying to get from the Union to the Market on 27th, but otherwise he approves of how it looks at the moment.
“I like the modern look of the Union now,” Lothrop said. “I also really enjoy the natural light that comes in. It’s a really bright and nice place to be at.”
Construction in the rest of the Union will be completed in the next couple of weeks. Additions to the Union will be added no later than fall break.
“We’re excited for it to be done,” Christen said. “We finally have a Union we can bring people in to and show it off to.”
