From e-mailing himself his own work to back it up to doing his homework on his smartphone, McCormick sophomore William Ehrich is well-acquainted with the lack of electrical outlets on Northwestern’s campus. Like Ehrich, some NU students have said a lack of accessible outlets makes finishing homework problematic.
To address these issues, NU’s Undergraduate Budget Priorities Committee made getting more electrical outlets on campus a priority in their annual proposal to the central administration last year, committee leaders said. In response to that proposal, the university approved funding more electrical outlets in the University Library’s Core section, the ground floor of the Norris University Center and the first floor of the Mudd Science and Engineering Library.
The installation of outlets in Norris will begin between Jan. 17 and Jan. 24, according to Kit Ramos, manager of construction projects for Facilities Management. Ramos estimates the project will last one week.
Once this installation is finished and the final paperwork regarding contracts and purchase orders is processed, the installation for the lower level of Core will begin and take about three weeks to finish.
Progress on the outlets installation for Mudd library is unknown, Ramos said.
“(Nobody could) supply me with details on it,” Ramos said. “There was nothing to proceed with.”
Financial Manager Tim Keller declined to offer any estimates of the cost of the project because it is against University policy to reveal financial information. He added that his boss, Ronald Nayler, assistant vice president of facilities management, instructed him not to release any costs.
Weinberg junior Thomas Aguirre said the lack of outlets in the lecture rooms of the Technological Institute is a big issue.
“If you have two lectures in a row and you need your computer, you can’t have it on the whole time or it will run out of power,” Aguirre said.
Others have trouble using outlets that are already available. Outlets in Mudd library, for example, are behind book cases and in corners, so it’s difficult to get a charger in them, Communication sophomore Derrick Liu said.
Some students are already anticipating the positive effects of more electrical outlets.
Weinberg junior Brianne Lomanto thinks that if the school has more outlets “people will be able to (have more time to) do more group projects.” More electrical sources will allow groups to for a longer period of time, which means that they won’t have to meet as frequently.
UBPC Chairman and Weinberg senior Anil Wadhwani said if the new outlets are used by the student body and become a cost-effective endeavor, the committee will consider proposing more outlets.
