May 26, 1997

A public forum to update the university community on the progress of the Graduate Student Commons and the new Bay Tree Bookstore will be held on Wednesday, June 4, at 1 p.m. in Classroom Unit 2.

This project is the continuation of the Core East planning process, which took place in 1994-95 and 1995-96. The Core East Committee recommended that Core East, which consists predominately of the Bay Tree and Whole Earth area, be used as future construction sites for bookstore expansion and other student-oriented building projects.

The two new buildings under discussion are planned for the upper end of the present bookstore lot, leaving future possible building sites open toward the south end of the parking lot.

The Graduate Student Commons is a facility designed to facilitate graduate student interaction and community. It will be a two-story building of approximately 5,000 square feet, housing a campus restaurant as well as offices, showers, a deck, a graduate student lounge, and study spaces for the graduate student community.

Graduate students have paid fees for 30 years to build such a facility for student life, and now with an additional fee (approved by the students in December) and income from the new Whole Earth Restaurant, the Graduate Student Commons can finally be realized.

The current plan situates the building between the existing bookstore and the Upper Quarry, providing easy access to the second floor from Science Hill, and to the restaurant from the plaza area.

A new bookstore was approved by the campus in 1990. The new Bay Tree Bookstore, of approximately 30,000 square feet, will be housed on the first two floors of a new structure totaling approximately 40,000 square feet. The third floor--of approximately 10,000 square feet--is slated for much-needed additional student services and meeting room space.

The bookstore is being planned to accommodate the needs of a growing UCSC student body and will feature substantial increases in scope and depth of inventory and services. A Quick Copy Center and Express Store, both of which will have extended hours, will be part of these new services. This new building will be against the east side of the present parking lot and opposite the Graduate Student Commons. A plaza area and attractive entrance to the Upper Quarry are part of the present planning process.

The bookstore portion of this new building will be funded from existing reserves and from a separate construction loan which will be repaid from annual revenues. The financing possibilities for the third-floor student services space in the bookstore building are still under discussion.

For more information, call Bob McCampbell, director of the Bay Tree Bookstore, at (408) 459-4544.

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