Plans to redecorate the Center for Cultural Engagement and Inclusion lounge have been approved, following the proposal being tabled in a recent Associated Students of California Lutheran University Government Senate meeting. 

Senate Director Ashlyn Bryson-Beane said the tabling of the proposal to redecorate the CCEI was very rare and one of very few projects that had been ever tabled.

“It really only got tabled because a big part of it was that we ran out of meeting time so we were gonna have to go over and we were kind of going in circles,” Bryson-Beane said. 

According to Laylanie Valenzuela, a junior ASCLUG senator, the main reason that this project was tabled was due to some hesitation with the project’s budget. Valenzuela said the project had originally asked for $20,000 but then got moved to $15,000, and in a different meeting, was eventually pushed through. 

Bryson-Beane said that after the senators expressed their desires of how they plan to utilize the large budget, and that they can use it to buy multiple assets to the CCEI lounge, the other senators agreed to move forward with the project. 

According to Valenzuela, the CCEI lounge project is going to begin soon and should be ready for students to utilize by this May, or at the latest, fall 2025.

 “It’s kind of a safe space for our often underrepresented and minority students,” ASCLU President Rafia Fairooz said. 

Fairooz said the idea of the CCEI lounge was to serve as a space where people who are part of the LGBTQ+ and BPOC community could come and hang out with one another. The space now serves as a place for commuters to hangout and lounge to make connections with their fellow peers.

“If we changed it and we put in booths and we changed the layout of the couches to make it a little bit more welcome for groups was kind of the whole thought process behind that,” Valenzuela said. 

According to Fairooz, the updated lounge will serve as a benefit to the student body at Cal Lutheran as it adds an additional place for students to form connections with each other. 

The senators are excited to start this new project to be able to have a space for commuters and that expresses inclusivity for cultural development, Bryson-Beane said. 

“I’m very excited for the cultural development on campus. CCEI is trying to make a more inclusive environment, and by adding the furniture, they will be promoting more cultural clubs and anyone to sort of hang out with each other and really connect with each other in a laid back space,” Fairooz said. 

According to Bryson-Beane, the senator’s vision is to add more comfortable and inclusive furniture to the CCEI, in hopes of encouraging more students to use the space.

“I think I’m really excited for this space to be changed a little bit. I’ve been back there a couple times and the tables that are in there just feel kind of out of place,” Valenzuela said. 

Valenzuela said the senators are passionate about the project in order to create a safe space for students to study, lounge, relax, and create community.

“I am excited for every project that I see happening. I used to be a senator, myself, so I know the hard work that senators put into our projects,” Fairooz said.