A new proposal brought forward by Adam Swart, an undergraduate representative on the Associated Students UCLA Board of Directors, would create a space for students to nap on campus in a collection of overpriced “sleep pods.” For students, the price tag of this project, which ranges between $30,000 and $45,000, should be a rude awakening.
Under the proposal, 11 of these 7-by-4-foot cylindrical “sleep pods” would be installed on the third floor of Ackerman Union. The snooze units would replace the lounge and pool table currently housed in the area.
Swart proposed the idea at the ASUCLA Board of Directors meeting on Oct. 25 after he received unanimous support from the ASUCLA Services Committee. Swart said the pods are a tangible way to address the issue of sleep deprivation among college students.
Before thousands of dollars are thrown to this questionable project, the board should make an effort to find out what students want to see in their student union – a space that should act as a hub for student life.
So far, Swart has only had informal conversations with students about the idea, which, he said, have all been positive.
An important question to ask students is: Do these futuristic pods meet a real student need, or are they one student’s idiosyncratic brainchild?
Swart has brought up the fact that places like Google have such pods, and that similar contraptions can be found in airports in cities such as Munich and Abu Dhabi.
But Ackerman Union shouldn’t feel like a corporate office or an airport.
It should be a place for students to engage with one another and escape the pressures that come with attending UCLA. And ASUCLA Executive Director Bob Williams said that creating this type of space for students is a priority for the Board of Directors.
Switching out a recreational area for a handful of pods won’t do much to serve the student population. Development for development’s sake, particularly when there is no demonstrated need for it, is in poor judgment.
As of now, the sleep pod proposal is in its preliminary stages and Williams said the Board of Directors is very open to student input. Students should make the effort to let ASUCLA know what they want from their student union.
Similarly, ASUCLA should make a conscious effort to figure out what students want – beyond the conversations Swart undertook in passing with friends and fellow classmates.
Though Swart is an appointed representative of the undergraduate student body, an idea as outlandish as his deserves to be field-tested with students before ASUCLA makes a $35,000 commitment.
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the editorial board.
I would really like to see upgrades to the student restrooms on campus before we install expensive places to sleep, while students already seem comfortable enough sleeping in the library. There are numerous bathrooms that are in need of updating. For example, the bathrooms in Young Research Library are constantly out of soap and toilet paper any time after 1 p.m., they are perpetually devoid of seat covers, and there is often feces all over the toilet seats. If more janitorial staff were hired and trained to do sweeps of the restrooms more often than is being conducted now, then students wouldn’t be forced to leave the building to find a sanitary restroom. Another example is in Bunche on the 2nd floor ladies’ room. Out of 4 stalls, the one on the right was closed for quite some time with a big black trash bag over the toilet. Now that the stall has been re-opened for use, there is a huge ceiling leak right above the toilet bowl. No one who sees that is going to want to sit where they can get splashed (with water that has who knows what kind of toxic residues from passing through the ceiling in an outdated structure). Also, the parking lot elevators do not work. They are a concern for student safety. Another thing is surveillance. Why don’t we have recorded footage for every inch of the parking structures? This could be used for identification and evidence not only for on-campus assaults, but also for property damage incidents as well. As far as I am concerned, UCLA has some great aspects to it overall, but is too concerned with installing over-priced fad items and not vigilant enough in keeping students safe and healthy. How is this one of the best schools in the world but it seems to be falling apart and grossly underfunded in some of the most basic necessities?
Get your information right. ASUCLA doesnt preside over bathroom cleaning in Bunch. Thats up to the university itself.
ASUCLA is responsible only for Ackerman Union, Kerckhoff, Lu Valle, and the North and South Campus Student Centers. For your YRL complaints, go talk to UCLA library staff. For your Bunche complaints, go talk to the appropriate departments in Bunche. For your parking structure complaints, go talk to UCLA Transportation. For your surveillance and safety complaints, perhaps ask UCPD to collaborate with Facilities or the departments housed within each respective building.
Of course, if UCLAsenior doesn’t want to go through all that, he or she can contact USAC (though this year’s board hasn’t been that great).
OK IDK who has issues with sleep pods. But it really bothers me that the Daily Bruin has such a narrow minded viewpoint of the lives of UCLA students. Not everyone pays too much money to live in the Dorms or a grungy apartment in Westwood. Some of us are fiscally responsible and decided to commute. Sure we don’t have as much fun as partying on the weekday isn’t always an option and we cant sleep into till 15 mins before class. We lose sleep getting to and from campus (believe me during finals week, that isn’t easy to do). Sure to some privileged students, ASUCLA facilities are a place to socialize and run around like its grade-school recess, but for many UCLA students like myself its a time to recharge so I can carry that further up the mountain till I have that god damn piece of paper that will move my life forward. Sleep pods will really help students who treat school like their job, not a bleeping summer camp. I ask the DB to reconsider their out of touch claim that sleep pods will not improve the quality of life for the silent hardworking majority of students who actually take their time at this place seriously.
There was another commenter that mentioned for $45,000 we could get 150 La-Z-Boy recliners. I don’t think it’s an issue about providing space for students to rest. Rather, it’s the egregiously nonsensical way the money is being spent on ONLY 11 sleeping pods.
I’ve been reading some of the comments on other articles regarding this issue. It seems to me that almost all were negatively against this idea. Interestingly however, there seems to be some outside interest trying to promote this product. I don’t want to speculate, but it seems like the representatives of the sleeping pod company are working overtime to make this happen…
OK guest. Nice try these pods will make a difference. The DB poll honestly is not a statistically sound poll we should trust on the matter. Sure we don’t have enough cancer research facilities to cure all cancer, but should we just not try to use what resources we have because we cant entirely solve the problem? No these nap pods are an attempt to really get campus on the anti-sleep depravation movement. These initial pods will be the preliminary efforts of a larger movement together. I hope you can understand that. Im also a 3rd gen bruin BTW. Not some sleep pod intern.
Ackerman already looks & feels like a suburban mall nooooo whyyyyy ASUCLA dumb dumb dumb sleep pods are dumb, unnecessary and unsanitary
To some of us, UCLA is a place of work in a similar dynamic of a suburb. Deal with it we live in LA, the land of 72 suburbs trying to find a city, and some hardworking commuter students would benefit from this. Not all of us have the privilege to sleep in 15 mins before class.
Jillian is a horribly under-qualified Daily Bruin columnist. Sources tell me she only got the job over more-qualified students because she was engaged in an unprofessional relationship with the former editor James Barragan. She is far less qualified to understand the needs of students than the highly qualified ASUCLA Board Member Adam Swart.
The Daily Bruin also isn’t one to talk about fiscal conditions as it is a horrible financial position itself and its losing hundreds of thousands of dollars every year from ASUCLA every year. And they think nap pods are a waste of ASUCLA funds.
The DB seems to be attacking the board member personally vs. the merits of his proposal. Additionally, it is unprofessional of the DB to focus on $35,000 without breaking the costs down.
Thoughts:
1. Let’s say that the pods last for ten years. The cost then will be $3,500 a year (Plus the cost for operations, which are comparatively small. The attendant could work on other ASUCLA assignments as well, while on their shift).
2. ASUCLA is an organization that probably makes hundreds of millions a year in revenue. $3,500 (or even $35,000) for them is small. Granted, diligence must be done when making any investment of this size, but considering that there are ~40000 students and ~20000 staff, “customers” won’t be too hard to find.
3. Safety. It’s better to sleep with piece of mind that your gear won’t get stolen while you are taking a nap. Commuter students can also get the nap they need before class or braving the 405.
4. To the commenter who doesn’t want Ackerman to become an “airport terminal” – it shouldn’t be about how it “looks”, it should be about services provided. A nap room would get a lot of attention, and it would be a cool thing to mention during campus tours as well.
This editorial is sadly misguided on the nature of how real decisions are made by people who matter. Daily Bruin people are just trying to pad their resumes by manufacturing scandals…this is clearly yet another example of that
11 pods are not enough. Please just invest in more comfortable couches. Just rows and rows of them on the 3rd floor.
What the article didn’t get was the fact that sleep pods can really make a huge difference for people who aren’t lucky enough to live at UCLA or in Westwood and who need to sleep during the middle of the day just to get even a decent sleep…sure they’re not super cheap but it seems like they’re a good thing to have certainly better than lots of other shit that the university gets like the fancy hotels for big wigs
The way the 3rd floor lounge is set up right now is ideal. Students can sleep, study, relax, and work with one another. Replacing them with something so expensive that would only serve 11 students at a time is not in the overall best interest of students. If ASUCLA wants to invest $35,000, they should do so to revamp the CURRENT layout of the lounge, maybe with new couches, chairs, etc, not completely overhauling a place that can be used simultaneously as a productive and relaxing space by far more than 11 students at a time.
Uhhhh you’re not just serving 11 students! 11 students can be served per half hour when people are taking half hour naps…clearly you have no idea what you’re talking about
Bravo! Great point reality! @disqus_GM0vOQple0:disqus please realize that this is a great first step towards improving the livelihood of commuter students who often get thrown in the dust in regard to UCLA campus policies and services.
Jesus! How could Jillian look at herself in the mirror and call herself a qualified journalist? Her piece is clearly a non-sequitor attack on her personal opinion on Adam Swart. A very biased and clearly misinformed editorial that further begs the question that ASUCLA should de-fund the Daily Bruin, the biggest fiscal waste that ASUCLA is burdened with.
Comments for this article have been closed due to repeated personal attacks in violation of Daily Bruin’s comment policy.