Campus ministries experience difficulties reserving rooms at IMU

For the first time in more than two and a half years, many campus ministries say this semester they are having trouble reserving rooms for student activities in the Indiana Memorial Union.\nBecause this has become such a growing issue over the course of the semester, IMU Executive Director Bruce Jacobs, along with Dean of Students Dick McKaig, will hold a meeting with various campus ministries in early March. Depending on how the meeting goes, some ministries may or may not continue to be able to reserve space in the Union. None of the ministries understand why they haven’t been able to reserve rooms in the Union.\nSt. Paul Catholic Center Associate Pastor Stan Drongowski said the church is experiencing problems reserving rooms. This is an issue, he said, because student leaders and even students wanting to attend will not know where to go to find the weekly mass.\n“Every Thursday since the beginning of the semester until now, at least six times we have been not able to get rooms or are shuffled around,” he said. \nDrongowski said IMU administrators did not tell them the cause of the shifting of rooms or the lack of availability in the IMU. \nIMU Associate Executive Director Thom Simmons said the Union is not doing anything differently this year from years past. \n“Student organizations get an application form to verify that they are a registered student organization and bring it to the support center in the Union,” he said. “From there, the space request is checked for availability.”\nSimmons said there was a large demand for space this semester. Student organizations can start putting in requests for space for the following semester on two different dates, he said. To reserve space in the fall semester, student organizations need to put in an application by April 15, 2008. To reserve space for next spring semester, organizations need to put in an application by October 15, 2008. \n“This isn’t the only day that they can put in an application, it is just the first day,” Simmons said.\nReserving rooms in the IMU is on a first-come, first-served basis. Although student organizations are not charged and outside groups have to pay, Simmons said neither one takes priority over the other.