IMU offers phone chargers

Two charging stations were introduced over the summer to the Indiana Memorial Union by its Facility and Operations Staff. These stations are located in the Indiana Memorial Union Gallery and the IMU Back Alley bowling center.

The stations are able to charge multiple electronic devices at once, including the iPhone 4/4S, iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy. The stations come with a bottom shelf for the devices to rest on as well.

“They tried putting them in areas of higher traffic,” Union Board president and senior Jared Thomas said.

Rob Meyer, the assistant director of student activities and events and Union Board advisor, said the IMU was approached several years ago by a private company to discuss putting wall mounting charging stations around the IMU. However, the IMU declined.

Once it was approached again with the thought of stationary charging stations, the IMU accepted the idea.

“Because the stand wasn’t going to change the feature of the space, the staff thought they would try it,” Meyer said.

Although the charging stations were initiated by the IMU, the Union Board finalized the designs of the stations, utilizing them to promote its organization.

The charging stations are not only for students.

“I saw parents using them over the summer when they dropped their kids off here,” Meyer said.

However, Meyer said he found many students in need of phone chargers.

“From my experience, a lot of students that come to the Union Board office were asking and looking for chargers, so this would be a simple solution so they could charge their phones easily,” Meyer said.

Currently, one charging station has a few glitches, but the other is fully
functional.

“There’s some issues with it right now, but the main perspective is that the IMU staff recognizes this is an issue, with students’ phones dying, so buying two charging stations to just try them out to see how successful they are, there might be better adaptations in the future,” Thomas said.

Because of the volume of traffic, Thomas said, the IMU presents an ideal location in order to test new ideas, especially those beneficial for people on campus.

“We pride ourselves as the living room of campus, to provide students with the different amenities they might need while being on campus,” Thomas said. “If you wanted to charge your phone and get something to eat, the Union would be the place for that.”

Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.