Sacramento State’s University Union underwent renovations from May 28 through Sept. 2. Improvements aimed to better accommodate students and faculty who regularly use the facility.

The major projects of the summer included furniture replacement in the public lounges, improved lighting on the second floor, an increased number of electrical outlets-now located on tables, walls, couches and counters throughout the building and the remodeled Hornet’s Nest food court.

Some other minor projects involved replacing worn carpet in the hallways, lounges and meeting rooms. Old tables were replaced with new ones. Dyson hand dryers were installed in the University Union Ballroom Lobby restrooms as well as bottle-filling stations on the first and third floors to cut down on plastic water bottle usage.

The cost of all these projects combined was an estimated $1.23 million, a figure that the Union Director Dean Sorensen says will not affect students’ tuition fees.

“The Union fee is separate from your tuition fees,” Sorensen said. “Expenditures by the Union do not affect faculty and class availability or limit student enrollment in any way. The current repairs and improvements that you see will not result in an increase in your fees.”

Sorensen said the money used for these renovations came from a reserve fund established in the 1970s designed to deal with possible future expenses for the Union.

The university set aside extra money into this fund annually until about the mid-2000s and only recently started withdrawing from it.

“[W]e have kept a very tight rein on our major physical expenditures,” Sorensen said. “Unfortunately, all physical items from wiring to pipes to lights to furniture to flooring eventually need replacing in a building that is used by over 17,000 people daily.”

Among all the upgrades in the Union, the remodeling of the Hornet’s Nest is the most obvious and extensive. It was also the most expensive.

The Hornet’s Nest update cost the university close to $593,000.

Aside from adding white ceiling fixtures for a fresh new look, changing the color scheme of the whole room and replacing the cafeteria furniture, the entire Hornet’s Nest floor had to be uprooted for an asbestos abatement.

According to the United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration website, asbestos “is the name given to a group of naturally occurring minerals that are resistant to heat and corrosion” and can be fatal if its fibers are breathed in over a period of time.

The OSHA website says asbestos is usually found in products used for pipe insulation, floor tiling, building materials, and vehicle braking systems with heavy exposures tending to occur in the construction industry, especially in the removal of asbestos materials during renovation, repairs, or demolition.

Breathing in asbestos fibers under these conditions can cause a build up of scar tissue in the lungs, which could possibly lead to lung cancer and mesothelioma.

While it might be alarming to some to hear the Hornet’s Nest floor had asbestos underneath it, Sorensen insisted that no one’s health or well-being was ever at risk.

He said the asbestos was in a dormant state under the tile and not physically present in the air. It was only when the Union replaced the floors this summer and altered its state through construction that the asbestos had to be abated and totally removed.

“Part of the fact that we’re a state institution means we got that many more rules and laws and people watching us to make sure that we follow up on that,” Sorensen said. “It wasn’t like anybody ever said, ‘Oh, you gotta get rid of that asbestos.’ It was just knowing that we were about to mess with the materials that were in there, then that’s what kicked (the abatement) in.”

Superintendent Jerry Schmidt of JS Construction, who oversaw the Hornet’s Nest project for general contractor Staples Construction, said he and his team were not directly involved in the abatement process but that he had heard there were some flooring products with asbestos which were removed.

Schmidt went on to explain that asbestos was a common agent used in many construction products from the 1960s and 1970s. He said if the Hornet’s Nest was built around that time, it most likely had asbestos in its materials.

“(Asbestos) was just one product they used that had later been determined to be hazardous if it’s disturbed,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt added the new flooring in Hornet’s Nest was made of a vinyl material without any asbestos.

Despite the asbestos issue, Sac State students have had mixed reactions to the Union renovations with some supporting the improvements and others wondering if the money could have been put to better use.

Senior apparel marketing and design major Glenn Gammad was in favor of the changes, particularly for the new furniture and layout of the Hornet’s Nest.

“We needed it,” Gammad said. “You’d see some of the chairs ripped and then all the tables would be bunched up together. There wouldn’t be any room, so I hope they fixed the space.”

Another Sac State student, John Snyder said he would prefer if the university used available funds for educational purposes rather than aesthetic ones, which is what he considers the Union renovations to be.

“You know, tuition is going up. It’s getting expensive to go to college and they got money to kind of dabble in all the things that don’t matter so much to me,” Snyder said. “I’d rather have my money go towards being able to get into classes rather than something like (this)…I come here to learn, I don’t come here to eat.”