The Life and Death of the MUGS Lounge: A Brief History of MUGS Lounge

BH305 and Its Move

MUGS Executive Board

Introduction

The McGill Undergraduate Geography Society (MUGS) lounge Burnside Hall (BH) 305 was moved in Fall 2022 in the systematic reorganization of the Faculty of Science administrative structure. The top-down nature of this process shows that the faculty ignored students’ right to the space and have an insufficient understanding of the place. After contextualizing the lounge within a broader history of the department, this article will examine the process and impact of the move.

Theoretical Framework

We as geography students are naturally sensitive to the concept of “space”. The MUGS lounge, as a public, third space for geography students, is a “place” that carries meanings. Thus, I will start by analysing several important concepts: “space” and “place”, public space, third place.

01 Space and place

Space and place are key concepts in geography. Rather than directly defining these two concepts, current literature tends to reveal their connotation by comparing them.1 They refer to different aspects of an entity. Space is more abstract and physical. Humans can feel space through movement. But once humans attach a certain meaning to a space, it becomes a place.2 Sense of place describes the bond between human and place. The interrelation of physical setting (materiality, appearance), activities (programming, functions) and meanings (symbols, memories) create the sense of place.3 When talking about geography, we tend to consider landscape or territory in a broad scale, but place can exist in multiple levels and forms. Place has been a central component to human geography. Current literature focuses more on how place is constructed through various relations, such as social structures and power imbalances.4

02 Placemaking

Placemaking is a term more commonly used in urban planning as one way to construct a “place” intentionally, believing space design can foster place attachment and values.5 Some scholars also point out that not only the physical design, but also the activities and usages that maintain the space afterwards are also critical in placemaking.6

Meeting both criteria, the MUGS lounge fostered active interactions and was loved by students. The transition from lounge to office symbolizes a change from public to private space. Since the 1990s, academia has expressed an increasing fear about the privatization of public spaces because of the exclusion, homogenisation, and commodification that follows.10 Public space is a key element of “the right to the city”.11 The right to public space implies that everyone should have equal opportunities to participate in its design, management, and use.12 In the case of the MUGS lounge, users of the space should have the right to the room, and any change of such public spaces should include the participation of all users.

Methodology

01 Document analysis

Although I have a list of the questions, I did not ask them in an organized sequence and formal way. In many cases, the responses just naturally popped out when I explained the move and intention for the interview.

With the help of Patrice, the president of Graduate Geography Society (GGS), we also interviewed graduate students and professors. However, because most interviewees did not want to engage in the move afterwards, we chose to keep the comments of graduate students anonymous.

03 Record of physical changes in the lounge

Cresswell, T. (2014). Place: An Introduction. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.

2 Cresswell (2014).

3 Relph (1976).

4 Chouinard, V. (1997). Structure and Agency: Contested Concepts in Human Geography. The Canadian Geographer / Le Géographe Canadien 41(4), 363–377.

5 Serin, B. (2018). Cross Disciplinary Review ofPlacemaking Literature: A Literature Mapping.

6 Bull, M. (2008). Place-making: Planning, modernity and humanistic geography. Doctoral Dissertations, 1–217.

7 Oldenburg, R. (1989). The great good place: Cafés, coffee shops, community centers, beauty parlors, general stores, bars, hangouts, and howthey get you through the day (1st ed). Paragon House.

8 Fyfe, N. (2006). Images ofthe Street: Planning, Identity and Control in Public Space. Routledge.

9 Jordan, P. (2014). The Meaning of Bilingual Naming in Public Space for the Cultural Identity of Linguistic Minorities. Review of Historical Geography and Toponomastics, IX, 21–24.

Urban planners pay more and more attention to third spaces, which refers to places outside of work and home where people engage in less productivity-focused and more abstract social activities.7 Third places can bond people from different backgrounds and foster community.

03 Public Space and the Right to the City

Sociable activities often take place in public spaces, making them vital components of urban environments that fosters social interaction, cultural exchange, and civic participation. Public spaces that are accessible, flexible, and adaptable to the needs of the community attract a more diverse range of users and foster social interaction.8 The public spaces with cultural identity of the community are more likely to be valued and used by residents.9

To contextualize the change of the lounge, this article gathers various McGill internal sources. Most sources are used to support the history of the MUGS lounge or the move process, such as the MUGS meeting minutes, minutes from departmental meetings, and McGill Yearbooks. Some primary sources directly show the situation of certain events in time, such as the pictures from the MUGS social media and the emails associated with the MUGS lounge.

02 Interview

To gather opinion from the geography community, I randomly sampled 20 students who were using the MUGS lounge. After briefly mentioning the context of moving and the intention of the interview, I asked the following questions:

- Are you a geography student?

- How often do you go to the MUG lounge?

- How do you usually use it? and how do you

- think of it (does it satisfy your use etc...)

- Is there any disadvantage in the current

- lounge? How can we improve it?

- What do you think of the move?

Since November 14, 2022 I recorded the spatial changes taking place in the MUGS lounge, including occupants and objects. I did human flow tracking at least 2 times per day, with at least 2-hour intervals between each time. I use the average of all counts for a day. The information includes how many people are in the lounge, and which area they are in. I also tracked the change of the physical space over opening hours everyday. The significant part is the gradual furniture change beginning on November 16th.

Context of MUGS lounge and Geography Department

The Department of Geography has called Burnside Hall home since its establishment in 1971.13 As the undergraduate student executive body under the geography department, MUGS has a long history and has always had a communal lounge in Burnside Hall.14 In the summer of 1988, the MUGS lounge moved from BH426 to BH305.15 The department went through changes in space use periodically as needs changed and enrollment increased, but the department always valued independent meeting spaces for undergraduate and graduate students. The space shrinks the most is the faculty lounge, while MUGS lounge stayed in BH305 for a long time until Fall 2022.16 The lounge is not only useful for students, but also represents the emotional connections of geography students across generations.

10 Devereux, M., & Littlefield, D. (2017). A literature review on the privatisation of public space.

11 Harvey, D. (2015). “The Right to the City.” In The City Reader (6th ed.). Routledge.

12 Harvey (2015).

13 McNally, P. (2004). History ofMcGill Project: McGill University Milestones: 1971-1990.

Lounge areas can be divided into 3 categories: eating space (green), resting space (red), studying space (blue) (Figure 1).

Eating is the function most often mentioned by students. The availability of condiments, mugs, and a sink creates a comfortable eating environment. The MUGS lounge normally also reaches its peak occupancy during lunchtime. The eating tables are also a space of socializing, especially during activities like coffee hours. “I use it everyday! The lounge is always full. It is good because you can always see your friends and interesting people here! People feel more comfortable talking with each other in this space. It is really a social space.” Liza, a Sustainability, Science & Society (SSS) student commented.

The largest area of the MUGS lounge is resting spaces, which is also the most actively used space. All the soft couches are welcoming spots for tired students. “It’s a comfortable place to nap. My whole math class afterwards will be ruined without napping”, an anonymous geography student mentioned. The arrangement of the couches also accommodates different users. Groups gather to chat sitting on the large lounge sofa surrounding the coffee table, while the more isolated loveseat allows for more private naps. Although less popular than resting and eating spaces, the study space still always has more than two people on the table. Compared to the bustling Geographic Information Center (GIC) on the 5th floor, it is a more comfortable and intimate space for studying. Many group discussions happen here when they are unable to book a room on campus.

The division of the space is arbitrary, and the spaces are always fluid and surely not limited to these 3 functions. During busy times, people directly start studying after finishing their food on the eating table. Distressing paintings on the studying tables allows a relaxing moment within a tiring schedule. The couches next to the bookshelf are a quiet and rather isolated space for rest, but also a comfortable space for reading. It is the flexibility of the space that allows for connection within the geography community: “(the lounge is a) more intimate but communal, mixed used space,[because] most geography people know each other” Elianta, an SSS student, commented.

In addition to spatial arrangement, the comfortable environment of the MUGS lounge dissolved the cold feeling of Burnside Hall. The walls of BH305 are painted in the same airtight grey as the concrete building. The only bright outlet is the windows in the southeast part of the building. Following the path of the brightness, MUGS put up maps and paintings on the walls as decoration. The couches beneath them are soft and warm. Most furniture in the resting area uses brown or red color to offset the coldness. Near the eating area, the style becomes greener to represent the theme of sustainability. Even the abrupt concrete pole in the middle is lightened by colorful paper notes.

The lounge is not only active in daily routine, but also keeps the memories of MUGS events over years. The MUGS lounge is the usual location for MUGS activities, such as bi-weekly coffee hour and special events (Figure 2).

These events continuously add layers of meaning to the place by attaching more communal memories to the physical space. According to the first VP Communication of MUGS, Alex Shiri, MUGS started its social media account in 2012. The name “mugs lounge” implies a strong “place” attachment.

By regularly sharing event pictures, “the MUGS lounge” also became a symbolic “cyberspace” that connected students. Even during the hardest pandemic period, the regular coffee hour on Zoom reminded geography students of the warmth of MUGS lounge.

The Removal of MUGS Lounge 305

The space reorganization was sudden and hardly incorporated students into the decision process. The earliest information we received was a notice on September 12, 2022 about the “potential change of location of the MUGS Lounge and allocations of rooms”.17 Until early November, the tone of the plan was still “a slow change”.18 However, the announcement in the department meeting on November 3, 2022 was undeniable. The change involved multiple departments, and thus the relocation of many rooms. The complex process was a domino effect, and geography students are just at the end of the domino.19 The meeting served as more of a notification rather than discussion of future plans. No matter how MUGS and GGS pushed back, the message was that a systematic decision had already been made and could not be changed.

17 MUGS. (2022a). Meeting minutes with Department Chair.

18 MUGS. (2022b). MUGS Meeting Minutes Nov. 1.

19 MUGS. (2022c). Building Reorganization Minutes.

The faculty do have rationale for the lounge’s removal. The main reason, as stated by the Dean, is that the Faculty of Science is beginning operational reorganization to build resiliency in administrative structures.20 Physical structure is one of the components. Some departments in Science have been facing staff shortages. For example, Geography is still lacking a graduate coordinator. Sometimes as long as one person is sick, the work of the relevant departments cannot be carried out, leading to inefficiency of the whole system. Therefore, the solution is to create a united staff by combining different departments, allowing staff to replace one another for work. BH305 is planned to be the office of the administrators of Geography, Earth and Planetary Science, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences.21 The appropriation of a new room rather than moving Geography to the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences

(AOS) office also symbolizes a “new” space for a united administration. The MUGS lounge would be moved to BH312, a previous graduate students office, only half the size of the original lounge.

Another rationale, mentioned by the coordinator of the reorganization project, is that the lounge is too large and undergraduate students do not need that much space.22 This is a “rational” reason if just looking at the building plans, but there is a difference between physical and psychological space. Upon entering the space, people did not feel like it was large or empty, because every area was actively used by students. Considering the department is expanding, it is also unreasonable to cut the size of the room in half.

The plan was not fully communicated. Geography students were suddenly informed to move without any consultation before, and the reasons for the changes have not been satisfactorily communicated. Therefore, the move is a highly top-down process that lacks transparency. During administrative meetings we were informed of decisions that had been made without any power to change them. This lack of transparency ignored the students’ “power to the room” and breaks students’ trust in the faculty. Moreover, although the faculty seem confident, the plan is disorganised and careless. The timing of the changes occur during the busiest periods for students, forcing them to displace themselves during already stressful times. The rushed timeline also made students busier. Graduate students have also complained about academic organizations like research labs and being separated.

Despite the difficulties, the actual moving process received various support. Stephanie Marshall, project administrator of Burnside Hall, helped with the planning and organization of the new room, providing new furniture as compensation. The geography students also actively engaged in and helped with the move. Because of the short notice, MUGS had to inform geography students and move out at the same time. On November 5, MUGS sent an emergency notice after the emergency meeting about the lounge move. Unable to bring all the furniture into a smaller room, MUGS encouraged students to take some furniture for free, making the moving a more gradual and communal process.

The number of users gradually declined primarily due to the gradual removal of furniture (Figure 3). But until the last day of the removal, people were still actively using the existing facilities. The regular users in the MUGS lounge during the daytime averages around 10 people, but there are two days with a significant drop in the number of people: November 18th and after November 25th. The move started on November 16th and MUGS finished cleaning up by November 24th. Furniture was moved on November 16th and 17th, but the number of users in the eating space remains relatively stable throughout the moving period because of how critical the service is to students. Some students began going to the lounge only to eat, whereas before they would stay to rest. However, a brief time before the “Lounge Funeral”, the cleanup party in the lounge, the number of people in the lounge recovered. Some students expressed their attachment to the lounge, saying “I come here everyday. Surely, I’ll come to the farewell party”. The number reaches the peak during the “funeral”, in which geography students gathered to pick up the remaining furniture, decorations, maps, books, and memories in the lounge.

The Impact

MUGS tries to keep the new lounge as cozy and useful as possible, but some functions are not run as smoothly as before.

Due to the reduced area, MUGS prioritized the resting space over studying space. This created more burden in the GIC. With an added microwave in the GIC, more people started to eat in there during lunchtime.

The space limitation also hinders MUGS activities. For example, MUGS and GGS could easily hold a social event between undergrad and graduate students with around 40 people. In the new lounge, to hold an event with over 20 people after class time, MUGS has to book other rooms in the building under the supervision of a faculty member.

The inconvenience also happens in everyday usage. With no sinks, people have to go to the nearest bathroom to wash their dishes. This discomfort makes many people not wash the dishes at all, leaving the cups and plates messy.

Conclusion

Standing for over 34 years, the MUGS lounge crystalised the connections across generations of geography students. Even though the Faculty of Science can justify the relocation, the moving process ignored the needs of students and effective community collaboration. A more organized and consultative approach is necessary to ensure the community’s needs are satisfied. Although thwarted, geography students and MUGS care about, and will continue creating, a better place.

References

Bull, M. (2008). Place-making: Planning, modernity and humanistic geography. Doctoral Dissertations, 1–217.

Chouinard, V. (1997). Structure and Agency: Contested Concepts in Human Geography. The Canadian Geographer / Le Géographe Canadien, 41(4), 363–377. https://doi. org/10.1111/j.1541-0064.1997.tb01321.x.

Cresswell, T. (2014). Place: An Introduction. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/mcgill/detail.action?docID=7103823.

Devereux, M., & Littlefield, D. (2017). A literature review on the privatisation of public space. https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1433865/a-literature-review-on-the-privatisation-of-public-space.

Feldman, R. M., & Stall, S. (1994). The Politics of Space Appropriation. In I. Altman & A. Churchman (Eds.), Women and the Environment (pp. 167–199). Springer US. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1504-7_7.

Fyfe, N. (2006). Images of the Street: Planning, Identity and Control in Public Space. Routledge.

Harvey, D. (2015). “The Right to the City.” In The City Reader (6th ed.). Routledge.

Jordan, P. (2014). THE MEANING OF BILINGUAL NAMING IN PUBLIC SPACE FOR THE CULTURAL IDENTITY OF LINGUISTIC MINORITIES. Review of Historical Geography and Toponomastics, IX, 21–24.

Köpfer, A. (2022). Reconstructing Students’ Appropriation of Space in Inclusive Schools in Austria and Germany Using Bourdieu’s Theory of Social Space. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 0(0), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2022.2073057

McGill University. (1966). McGill Yearbook 1966. https://yearbooks.mcgill.ca/viewbook. php?campus=downtown&book_id=1966#mode/2up.

McNally, P. (2004). History of McGill Project: McGill University Milestones: 1971-1990. https:// historyofmcgillproject.mcgill.ca/1971-1990.html.

Moore, T., & Kestelman, P. (2023). Email interview [Personal communication].

MUGS. (2022a). Meeting minutes with Department Chair.

MUGS. (2022b). MUGS Meeting Minutes Nov. 1.

MUGS. (2022c). Building Reorganization Minutes.

Oldenburg, R. (1989). The great good place: Cafés, coffee shops, community centers, beauty parlors, general stores, bars, hangouts, and how they get you through the day (1st ed). Paragon House.

Rioux, L., Scrima, F., & Werner, C. M. (2017). Space appropriation and place attachment: University students create places. JournalofEnvironmentalPsychology, 50, 60–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2017.02.003.

Sebastien, L. (2020). The power of place in understanding place attachments and meanings. Geoforum, 108, 204–216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.11.001.

Serin, B. (2018). Cross Disciplinary Review of Placemaking Literature: A Literature Mapping. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.17036.82568.