With finals less than two weeks away, the Student Government Association voted to give students a much-needed destressor by bringing back the puppy patch. The nearly $1,000 project will return several puppies and a trained handler to campus for students to play with as they study for exams. This semester’s edition of the puppy patch will take place on Dec. 18 between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Sycamore Lawn near Calvary Chapel and the Welcome Center. SGA will also provide free popcorn at the event.

LIBRARY TO CO-FUND PUPPY PATCH

Off Campus Commuter senator Jordan Wright, one of SGA’s liaisons to the Biola Library, submitted an internal proposal to co-sponsor the puppy patch with the library, as has been done in years past. Wright’s proposal called for $995 to cover the expenses of bringing the puppies and their handler to campus through an outside organization, as well as to provide food and advertising.

He confirmed that the library would eventually reimburse SGA for $452.50—exactly half the proposed amount. Wright also requested a same-day vote, the motion for which passed unanimously.

Other senators expressed widespread support to bring back the event. Bluff senator Lauren Sutter, who helped staff the puppy patch last year, reassured her colleagues that wait times for the patch never exceeded 10 minutes. Horton Hall senator Maddie Prater, who works with the library alongside Wright, said 500 students are expected to attend.

The proposal passed 9-0-2, with Wright and Noah Love of Hart Hall, who was absent, abstaining.

SENATORS TOUR SOUBIROU

The senate also got a firsthand look at the renovations of Soubirou Hall, courtesy of facilities management. The building, which housed nursing classrooms before the Alton and Lydia Lim Center for Science, Technology and Health was built, will become the main hub of classroom space for the kinesiology department, featuring specialized facilities such as a biomechanics lab. Some updated nursing department facilities will remain in the remodeled hall.

Once construction is complete, kinesiology classes formerly held in the Chase Gymnasium annex will move to Soubirou, according to project manager Chris Cain.

“The idea is, [Soubirou] is an extension of Lim [and] the sciences,” Cain said.

The building was initially expected to be ready for classes at the start of the Spring 2019 semester, but Cain told the tour group that some pricing changes to the hall’s air conditioning system caused a last-minute delay, pushing the projected date of completion for the remodel back toward February or early March.

“Everything else will look very much done here in a few weeks… and then we’re just gonna be kind of waiting on air conditioners,” Cain said. “It’s kind of unfortunate, but we’re almost there. Luckily, there’s no space that’s needing to get in here… It’s not like they’re not gonna be able to hold those classes until we open up.”