\u201cTalk to Lova, she would know.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was before my time, but Annarelli should have been here to see it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got here, it wasn\u2019t an active bowling alley.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Assistant dean for residence life and student engagement, Jack Layden; director of campus activities, Lova Patterson; and president James Annarelli were all at least a little stumped when asked about the ever-elusive history of Brown Hall and its supposed bowling alley. To this day, this artifact of Eckerd\u2019s past remains shrouded in mystery.<\/p>\n
Here is what they were able to piece together: on the north side of Brown Hall, there once sat a four-lane bowling alley that was receded 5 or 6 steps into the ground.<\/p>\n
This was a space where students could belly the ball down the lane and hope for a schleifer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Today, though, this bowling slang has fallen out of use on Eckerd\u2019s Campus. This is because, sometime likely in between 1990 and 1991, the bowling alley was torn out. Whether this was due to lack of student engagement or maintenance and upkeep costs, my sources were unsure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For several years after, the space was used as a late-night student hangout space or a sort of student union headquarters. In the mid 1990s, though, the space was renovated again. Walls were put up, cubicles and offices erected, and the Brown Hall that the Eckerd community knows and loves today was realized\u2014the space is now home to the Campus Safety office, the Foundations Collegium offices and the Student Success suite.<\/p>\n
The college was in desperate need of more office space, and so this change seemed reasonable. However, since the shift, there has been no direct home for a student union\u2014outside of the student lounge in the pub. Is there a need for a new space like this on campus?<\/p>\n