Student Union officials are in the early stages of exploring ways to make the game room in the Usdan Student Center more inviting and attractive to students.The officials said students' use of the game room has declined in recent years, and a number of initiatives could be set in motion to reverse the trend.

"It's certainly not booming for a rainy Sunday afternoon," said Student Union President Alison Schwartzbaum '08. "You would think that it would be packed, and at many other campuses, it would be."

Schwartzbaum attributed students' waning interest in the game room to broken equipment and an unappealing dcor.

As Union Director of Communications Brian Paternostro '07 put it, "Nobody really wants to go into [the game room] right now because it's big and blue."

While no concrete plans have been put in place, Paternostro said officials have been exploring several suggestions, including the creation of a discotheque, a space for student club activities or a weekly jazz night.

Paternostro said Union officials have discussed decorating the game room's walls with Brandeis-themed decorations, such as framed jerseys and old pictures to "make it something to look at."

However, sources of funding for a game room renovation remain unclear.

Money allocated for current game room operations comes from game fees and from a fund created by the Union when the game room was created four years ago, Schwartzbaum said.

However, she said, day-to-day operations of the facility are run by the Student Services Bureau, an organization under the control of Student Activities which staffs the game room and provides services such as video rentals and dry cleaning.

After the SSB closes each day, the game room is run by members of the Campus Center Team, a group of students separate from SSB who are paid through Student Activities.

SSB President Arthur Smith-Vaughan '07 said his organization has no control over the condition of the facility in which it operates.

He said two video-games and one air hockey table are currently broken.

"We want this place to look nicer and get more people in here, but we don't have any control over that," he said.

Assistant Dean of Student Life Alwina Bennett said she doesn't think the game room has "reached the place where it could be."

But she said money for a renovation should not come out of Student Activities funds because the organization is "in a flat budget."

Bennett suggested that funds to renovate the game room should be taken from the Capital Expenditures Fund-a fund overseen by the Student Union F-board which allocates money to chartered or secured student clubs requesting large capital expenses or emergency funding.

But Schwartzbaum was not supportive of that idea. "I don't think that it is within the purpose of the [Capital Expenditures Fund] to repair the infrastructure of the campus," she said.