Current Issues in Journalism

You step off of the elevator on the sixth floor of the Kansas Union, hurrying to get to a meeting in the Curry Room. You see the Kansas Room right in front of you, with a somewhat hidden sign on the wall indicating that the Curry Room as well as the Malott Room are around the corner. You open the double glass doors only to be confronted with a long hallway. Where in the world is the Curry Room, anyway?

That’s exactly what happened to Melissa Halder recently. On her way to the Curry Room to tutor math, Halder was almost late because she couldn’t find the room – which, along with the Malott Room, are tucked so deep into the sixth floor of the Kansas Union that they can be difficult to find.

“It was kind of frustrating not knowing where it was,” she said. “I think it would be helpful if there was a sign.”

In comes my idea – let’s have a free standing sign placed somewhere in the long hallway after you open the double glass doors indicating exactly where both the Curry and the Malott Rooms are. It may sound unimportant and trivial, but Halder isn’t the only one who has gotten caught up in finding these popular meeting rooms.

Brittany Dias, an employee at KU Info on the fourth floor of the Union, has gotten countless questions about the problem, especially from people who aren’t familiar with the Union.

“Yeah, mostly they’re like ‘where’s the Malott Room? I see it on the directory but I don’t know how to get there,’” she said. “A sign would be great, and it would definitely lessen confusion.”

After confirming that it was a problem, I spoke with Gene Wee, reservations coordinator for the Union - whose phone number is 864-2419 - who thought that my idea was “a nice idea” – but knowing more about the rules and regulations of the Union than I do, expressed some hesitation.

“It depends on what the fire code says,” he said. “A free standing sign might not be approved. It’s a nice idea, but it’s something we’ll have to check on. It may not be approved by the fire marshal.”

He encouraged me to seek out someone who knows more about the fire code, which I plan to do. After all, Halder and many others might benefit from knowing where they were going as they attempted to get to these two hidden rooms.

“I think it would be a great idea,” Halder said.