Students may or may not have noticed the large LCD screens that popped up in campus buildings at the beginning of the year. But the screens exist, and they do have a purpose besides telling students how cold it is outside.

Marquette Student Government has helped fund a Marquette administration initiative to better inform students and visitors about events on campus, according to Beth Feste, MUSG executive vice president and a College of Arts & Sciences senior.

The LCD screens, or "Access TV," were a product of the initiative. MUSG helped fund the costs of six screens — three in the Alumni Memorial Union, one in each parking structure and one in the John P. Raynor, S.J. Library.

MUSG contributed $10,000 to help fund the total cost of about $100,000 for "Access TV," according to Dek Glynn, MUSG legislative vice president and a College of Arts & Sciences senior.

"MUSG was invited to participate in the initiative," Feste said. "Every year communication with students is an issue. We thought that this would create a new opportunity to resolve the issue."

Part of the reason MUSG joined the program was to negotiate the user policy, how the system was going to operate and the placement of the screens. MUSG also wanted to advocate for student organizations for a free means of advertising, according to Feste.

The money MUSG used to fund the "Access TV" project came from a source of money called the MUSG Reserve Fund.

"According to the MUSG constitution, there needs to be 10 percent of our operating budget in reserve in case we go over budget for the year," said Andrew Doyle, outgoing MUSG financial vice president and a College of Business Administration senior.

Currently, $185,034.71 is in the MUSG reserve fund, according to Jon Dooley, MUSG adviser.

"Most of the money came from MUSG budget policies in the 1990s," Dooley said. "Student organizations only had one chance a year to apply for funding. Because of that, there was a lot of money left over every year and it went into the fund."

MUSG budget policies were changed for the 2002-'03 school year to allow for "a more realistic approach for budgeting to benefit student organizations, and to have a higher percentage of funds spent," according to Dooley.

"We should be looking for ways to spend the extra money to benefit students in the long term," Doyle said. "We're actively open to finding those kind of projects."

Students have expressed concern over the new screens.

"The concept of the screens is good," said Geoff Edwards, a College of Business Administration sophomore. "The locations are very bad. There is never a time in my life where they catch my eye."

The placement is not the only concern Edwards has with the screens.

"I"m a pretty tall guy," he said. "The screens are too high, even for me. They should probably be placed at eye level."

Feste said she understood the concern about the height of the screen.

"The screens higher up does make a difference, and they should be at eye level," she said. "But I believe that the screens will catch on eventually."