Involvement center nixed
A proposed student involvement center is probably being scrapped, with hopes that new technology will be installed throughout the campus in its place.
Last year’s Associated Students of USU Executive Council came up with the idea of building a centralized student involvement center – a one-stop location where students could find out about clubs, service organizations, activities and other ways to be involved at the university.
The center’s location would have been on the second floor of the Taggart Student Center in the spot where a general information desk used to be.
The information desk was removed last year, and it was expected that it would only be a matter of a semester or two before the new student involvement center was built in its place.
But that idea has probably died.
“It’s kind of lost its energy,” said Assistant Vice President for Student Life Gary Chambers.
Chambers said the information desk would have been taken out anyway to be combined with the current USU ID Card Office and Ticket Office, both of which are located down the hall from the old information desk.
He said combining the offices has saved the university money by cutting down on staffing.
“It’s been a very successful thing,” Chambers said.
He said the idea of replacing the information desk with a student involvement center was originally estimated to cost the university about $10,000.
The council gave a university class the charge of coming up with a design for the new center.
The designs of several students in the class were chosen to be combined into what was to be the center’s ultimate look.
Chambers said USU Physical Plant researched the idea and came back last semester with an estimate of $36,000.
That alone was sufficient to force this year’s Involvement Center Committee, which includes several members of this year’s Executive Council, to rethink the idea, Chambers said.
In addition to the cost, Chambers said he discussed the idea with students and with the committee, and he said he gets the feeling most students would be more interested in getting involvement information at more than just one location.
“They would like to be able to have the information available at a number of spots throughout campus,” Chamber said.
He said a recent trip to the University of Idaho got him thinking about another possibility.
The U of I recently installed wireless communication systems in several buildings, Chambers said.
He said the wireless systems at the U of I allow students to check out a laptop computer from the university, plug it into any of a number of wireless hook-up boxes and access the “university backbone” as well as the Internet.
He said he sees this as a more viable way to providing access to university involvement information, as well as a range of other information.
He said he has already spoken a little with computer specialists at the university to see about the feasibility of adapting current e-mail terminals.