The Elaine Langone Center, or the ELC, is supposed to be the student center of Bucknell’s campus. It is where the caf, the Bison, the mailroom, the CAP Center and a bunch of other essential spaces are all packed together. Basically, it is the building everyone passes through at least once a day when they need to eat, meet up with friends, pick up a package or even study. You would think the main student building would feel welcoming and updated, right?
Wrong. The ground floor lobby is — excuse my language — ugly. And I mean ugly.
Blue and orange are actually really cute school colors. I feel like you could do so much with them. You could make something bright and bold and fun that actually feels like it belongs at a school full of young people with strong personalities. Instead, the ground floor of the ELC looks like it has been trapped in 2003 — and not in a fun Y2K way. It is just dull, drab and lowkey depressing.
The mailroom is actually pretty nice. I will give them credit for that. It looks clean and modern. You can pick up your Amazon package and feel like you go to a semi-put-together university. But the second you step into that seating area between the mailing center and the CAP Center, it is a whole different vibe. It gives off sad conference room in a hotel energy. Or like the waiting room for a DMV that forgot it needed to be renovated 15 years ago. I do not know who picked that carpet, but they might owe me financial compensation for having to look at it every single day.
The thing is, it is actually a comfy space. There are lots of different seating options. You can post up in one of those little chair clusters, hang with your friends, grab food, kill time between classes. It is functional. But why not be functional and cute at the same time? Holmes Hall proves we can do it. It is modern and sleek and bright without feeling sterile. Imagine if the ELC ground floor had that same kind of energy but with Bucknell blue and orange popping everywhere. It would look so good.
Right now, it just feels tired. Like, it is trying its best, but it needs a serious makeover. New carpet. Fresh paint and elements that don’t make it feel grey and sad. Some cooler furniture and decorations, because whatever vibe those chairs are giving right now, it is not it. And do not even get me started on that random pop of red in the middle of everything. It looks so out of place.
Bucknell, think about what kind of impression that part of the ELC leaves on prospective students. It is seriously giving early 2000s waiting room, not top liberal arts school energy.
I am begging. If any alum is reading this, if you are one of the ones who likes to put your name on a bench or a building, please consider investing in the ground floor of the ELC. Some bright colors and a better vibe would go such a long way. Imagine walking into the ELC and actually feeling energized instead of feeling like you just entered a dentist’s office from 2005. We deserve better.
I am not saying we need a full million-dollar renovation tomorrow (although if some generous alum wants to write the check, I will not stop them). I am just saying Bucknell students deserve a central space that matches the energy and excellence the university has. Right now, the ELC ground floor feels like a weird forgotten zone that everyone just accepts because it has been there forever. But it does not have to stay that way. We can dream bigger. We can have an ELC that actually makes you excited to hang out there instead of wanting to grab your food, eat and leave.
Please, Bucknell. Fix the ground floor. You are already charging us enough. The least you could do is let us have a student center that actually looks good inside.
