Musically inclined students who once turned to CSPAC for practice space will face locked doors this semester as the center limits its 32 practice rooms to music majors.
“We don’t have enough space,” said Michael Sparrow, who works on scheduling and operations for the music school. “We would make spaces available to everyone if we could.”
The music school’s enrollment has risen to 600 from 450 when construction began on the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. The growth, combined with classes and recitals that have been forced into CSPAC because of renovations at the Tawes Performing Arts Center, doesn’t leave enough space for non-majors to share, Sparrow said.
The practice rooms can only be unlocked by swiping an eligible university ID card in the card readers. The rooms were originally meant just for music majors when CSPAC opened in 2001, but card readers weren’t installed during construction because of budget cuts, Sparrow said.
The card readers were finally installed in May, but the music school decided it didn’t make sense to cut off non-music majors from the practice rooms right at the end of the school year, Sparrow said.
“It’s just really inconvenient,” said Alex Chua, a junior finance major who created a Facebook group urging CSPAC to re-open the practice rooms to non-music majors. “People who just enjoy music can’t go there and play,” he said.
And while many other departments operate areas that are only for students enrolled in their specific field, other department-specific complexes – like the engineering library – are available to all, Chua said.
Unlike those who seek labs and libraries, non-music majors wishing to practice don’t have many other options, Brian Lin, a junior finance and accounting major, added.
“The music rooms aren’t available anywhere else on campus,” Lin said.
While Sparrow recognized the inconvenience, he said that music students need the rooms to fulfill degree requirements.
Still, Chua said he hopes the school will set aside a certain number of rooms for non-majors or let them use the rooms during certain times, such as early mornings or late nights when the areas aren’t as crowded.
Chua added that even now music majors have priority and can ask non-majors to leave a room if necessary.
The school’s decision isn’t set in stone, however.
Sparrow said locking down the rooms is a “transition” for the school, adding that changes could be made to the policy, perhaps around the end of the fall semester.
He also said that the school was “still working the bugs out” of the system and that some students who should be able to get into the rooms can’t.
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