Since its grand opening in 2010, the Ronald Tutor Campus Center has been quite the useful addition for all Trojans, from the outdoor International Plaza to the upstairs offices and Traditions in the basement. But the most useful of all, however, has been the grand entrance of Sample Hall, more commonly known as the “Trojan Family Room.”
Why the Family Room? Upon visiting last week, we noticed students felt most comfortable in the space, so comfortable, that they were all napping, snoozing, or just plain sleeping. All of them.
Some had ear buds in, others were drooling over a textbook. A girl lying on her Macbook keyboard had accidentally typed “Heyjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj” with her face. One man was even passed out over a container of orange chicken. When we tried to wake him, he insisted on “five more minutes” and called us “mom.”
Around the hall are small vestibules with benches and tables. These more private spots, we gathered, are most desired by Family Room sleepers. First class, if you will.
“You have to get here at the right time,” one student told us. “otherwise you’re stuck on an armchair. An armchair. Seriously. Might as well go home.” When asked where home is, the student told us New North. “It’s just really loud over there. There’s an understanding here, you know? No one’s going to bother you. We all just want the same things. Plus my roommate has rabies.”
We found not only students using the room for naps, but visitors, faculty, and staff as well. This led to an executive decision to change the name of the Family Room altogether.
“Why not just call it what it is?” said a graduate student before her daily 3pm nap. “It’s a Sleeping Room. A room for sleeping. Honestly I’d appreciate some futons, too. Can you hand me my neck pillow?”
And so, as the Trojan Sleeping Room, the Campus Center will continue to provide another useful space for all members of the Trojan family. Even when they’re awkwardly unconscious in public.
