Johns Hopkins University has consciously—and sometimes creatively—set aside areas for student relaxation and socialization in recent years. There are popular café spaces in the Brody Learning Commons and Undergraduate Teaching Labs, a new late-night entertainment venue called The LaB, and colorful chairs playfully arranged on Homewood campus quads.
But none of those spaces has satisfied the need for a true student center, a nonacademic, campus social space for students. That point has been clearly and repeatedly echoed by generations of Hopkins students who have sought—as an April 2018 op-ed in the student newspaper titled “We need a student center” put it—a place to “promote social life at Hopkins, boost school spirit, and encourage campus activities beyond the classroom.”
At long last, the wait for such a space is over.