By Estefani Herrera
As part of an attempt to help students prepare for midterms, Ackerman Student Union recently added new lockers that store and charge computers or other electronic devices.
The new unit, located on the first floor of Ackerman Union, was installed about a month ago. It has 14 compact lockers and an electrical outlet, capable of charging the device while it is locked inside.
The lockers cost about $2,500, which came from student fees included in student tuition that are directed to the Undergraduate Students Association Council, said Roy Champawat, director of the UCLA Student Union. USAC and Associated Students UCLA collaborated on the project, he said.
Sean Casey, a third-year history student who used the lockers while studying in Ackerman, said he would prefer to see more outlets in the building, instead of just in the lockers.
The charging lockers are part of ASUCLA’s efforts to continue to establish the student union as a center for students’ academic life, as well as for food and the UCLA store, Champawat said. ASUCLA recently added other new programs to assist students, such as Ackerman’s Open Study, which keeps study lounges open for longer hours, he said.
Members within USAC planned to put the lockers in last year, but the council was low on funds and chose to wait until the new school year to implement the plan, Champawat said.
“We continue to be open to ways in which we evolve the union,” Champawat said. “(ASUCLA tries) to keep in mind the needs of current, and as much as possible, the needs of future students.”
Michael Starr, who was the USAC facilities commissioner during the 2011-2012 academic year, came up with the idea for the project.
“(The locker unit) creates an opportunity for students to have a secure place to charge their portable device, even when all other outlets are taken,” said Starr, a fourth-year Spanish and linguistics student.
Starr said he saw the need for students to have a place to charge their computers, and wanted to provide that service for them.
Though the lockers are located in a section of Ackerman considered to be a high traffic area, some students such as Patty Gonzalez, a second-year mathematics for teaching student, were not aware of the new addition.
“If they had (advertised) better then maybe I would have used them,” said Gonzalez, while sitting on the ground with her laptop, charging in a nearby outlet.
The association hopes that as the quarter continues more students will become aware of the new resource, and will continue to use Ackerman as an adequate place to get their work done, Champawat said.