Although the basement of the O’Connor Campus Center (COOP) was a place of frustration for many at the beginning of the school year, the newly remodeled computer lab and relocated WRCU station are now up and running.

To make space for a new and more technologically advanced WRCU station, the O’Connor Computer Lab was completely re-done over the summer.

“The project had been going on throughout the summer, but the station officially opened last week,” Music Director of WRCU Steven Butler said.

Formerly housed in Drake Hall, WRCU was moved in order to give the radio station more space and better equipment. The new space had been used by ITS for its staff offices and a diagnostic area but has since been freed up by ITS’s move to the Case-Geyer Library.?

According to Business Manager of WRCU Steven Butler, the move was a well-deserved change for the radio station. The former space in Drake Hall was very small and limited the work the radio station was able to do. The new location provides a “quantum leap in technology that the station desperately needed.”

With the addition of the new radio station headquarters came the complete renovation of the COOP computer lab, which is now next to WRCU. Computer lab usage, measured by the amount of printing paper used, however, has remained the same, and the computer lab still houses that same number of computers, although the computers and scanners are new.

“The lab is used fairly heavily because it is a general lab and is not mainly for departmental use,” Technology Support Analyst Ahmad Khazaee said.

“In fact, the lab is so heavily used that it has the largest number of high speed large capacity printers on campus…and is part of the central hub for students to eat, get mail, socialize and print and do homework,” Manager of Student Technology Resource Group Claudia Servadio-Coyne said.

Since students returned to campus over two weeks ago, there have been complaints made and questions asked as to why the newly re-done lab remained closed.

“Everyone was eager to know when the lab was going to open,” Khazaee said. According to the administration, this delay was due mainly to staffing issues, which have since been addressed.?

Despite the frustration of the minor delays at the start of the year, the new design of the COOP basement is proving a welcome change to the Colgate community and will continue to be a part of many students’ daily lives.