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Coordinates: 37°52′09″N 122°15′35″W 37.8691642, -122.2596225

Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union

• Built in 1961
• Student store, ballroom, lounge, computer lab, meeting rooms, etc.

Overview

• This building, owned by the ASUC Auxiliary, was constructed with funds gained from the sale of the Cal sports teams to the university in 1959.^[1]
• Places to Check Out:^[1]
  • 1. Cal Student Store. The Cal Student Store has several sections. There is the Cal Convenience Store, the Clothing Store, and the General Bookstore on the first floor and the Textbooks and Supplies department in the basement. Once one of the last student run stores in the nation, it is now no longer student run due to mismanagement by the ASUC in the mid 1990s. This bad management included things such as spending $1 million to add a tile floor to the convenience store area, and led to the student store meltdown which culminated in the 1996 takeover of the store by the University. The ASUC Auxiliary was created to manage all ASUC business operations, including the store and other facilities such as the arcade and the art studio in the Chavez Center. In 1998, Follett, a company that specializes in operating campus bookstores, was hired to run the store. Follett pays either rent or a percentage of the profits, whichever is higher. Since they've started running the store they have been paying rent, as profits have not been good. Annual sales are around $20 million. Follett has also been planning an expansion with a cafe on the 2nd floor, but due to poor profits downstairs this has yet to happen and the eastern half of the 2nd floor remains vacant.
    2. Heller Lounge. This 24 hour quiet study lounge, located on the west half of the 2nd floor, is a popular study spot, getting filled to capacity the week before and of finals. Once located on the 7th floor of Eshleman, the lounge was moved into MLK in Fall 1999 just before finals, and operations were extended to 24 hours. Ever since the Third World Liberation Front strike in the late 90s, this space has been the "coming soon" location of a multicultural lounge.
    3. Open Computing Facility. The only computer lab on campus where food is allowed, the OCF also boasts free printing and lots of UNIX workstations in addition to PC's (which are rarely used as most students don't know how to use UNIX). The OCF moved to MLK from its previous location in the basement of Barrows Hall over the summer of 2000, opening in Fall 2000. The OCF is staffed by student volunteers, and also offers free email and webspace for students. OCF machines are named after disasters, with UNIX machines named after natural disasters (such as earthquake, fallingrocks, tsunami, tornado, etc.), PCs after biological disasters (pox, madcow, anthrax, etc.), and servers after the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Actually, there are 6 servers, the other two are called Apocalypse and Pestilence). Printers, webcams, and other peripherals are given other disaster related names such as headcrash, logjam, or eurodisney. The OCF is located inside the Heller Lounge on the 2nd floor.
    4. Pauley Ballroom. A giant ballroom located on the 3rd floor and extending up through parts of the 4th. Used for career fairs, student group functions, etc. Also rented for conventions to outside organizations. Dances have been rare since 2002 due to a new dance policy implemented in Spring 2002 following rioting at dances that took place in the 2001-2002 year.
    5. Roof Terrace. The fifth floor has a couple of meeting rooms and also a large rooftop terrace with benches. A very nice space to study or relax, for some reason it goes almost completely unused. In 2002, following the California Energy Crisis and soaring power costs, installation of solar panels began in the roof. MLK is the first building on campus to have solar panels installed.

Gallery

References