TSC tables could be too much for students
Tables continue to line the hall in the bottom floor of the Taggart Student Center. Clubs, organizations, and businesses reach out to students, but is it too much?
The purpose of allowing the tables is to make students aware of clubs or activities, Eric Olsen, TSC assistant director said. The number of tables are controlled, as are their locations. To set up a table, a club or organization must receive a permit from the TSC in advance for a certain day. There are a limited number of tables open each day and a limited number of days available to each club per month.
The Associated Students of Utah State University are allowed two tables in front of the copy center, leaving three open spaces near the Bookstore for other USU clubs and organizations. The Bookstore is also permitted one table for sponsored vendors, which can sell cell phones, newspapers or other products sold inside the store, Olsen said.
ASUSU Activities Vice President Kathy Leslie agrees the tables are a great hands-on way to meet people and at times raise extra money, but Leslie worries that there are too many tables in crowding the halls.
“Credit cards, cell phones, roses, graduation supplies, etc. All of these things clutter our student center and make advertising for student activities null and void because people have learned to avoid the tables all together,” Leslie said. “Students are feeling bombarded, I think.”However, beyond that, there should not be non-campus vendors in the TSC without special permission for a special event, according to the TSC Policy Manual.
This overwhelming feeling may have to do with a simple table rule that is not kept by everyone. The table permit clearly reads that no soliciting should occur in the TSC and that anything given away or sold can only been done at the tables themselves and not in the middle of the hallway. Olsen and other staff members patrol the hallway whenever possible to insure that traffic is still flowing smoothly and at the same time allowing clubs and organizations to promote themselves.
Still, Leslie said she believes that tables in the TSC should be completely student and university oriented.
“I don’t want to be sold a newspaper or cell phone every time I walk from the Hub to the Computer Lab. If I wanted to do those things, I would go to the mall,” Leslie said
In the past, the TSC had problems with companies, such as pest control and security companies, that want to hire students to work during the summer. However, now those employers are sent to the Career Fair, Olsen said. The university has a responsibility for what is endorsed on campus and employers who set up tables without permission are giving the false impression that they are USU supported, Olsen said.
Service organizations such as the Girl Scouts or the Marine Corps must be sponsored by a campus organization. Non-campus vendors are charged for the use of the tables where as campus clubs are not. All money from outside vendors will be deposited into the Student Development fund, according to the policy.
-hilaryi@cc.usu.edu