Despite taking about a year to plan and enduring many previous semesters of consideration, the current Marquette Student Government administration will actualize its goal to install information kiosks on the academic area of campus this summer.

The kiosks are about six-feet-tall, two-sided, lit structures enclosed in Plexiglas on which student organizations will be able to hang flyers and posters approved by the Office of Student Development.

The first such structure will cost about $28,000. This includes the $13,000 price tag on the made-to-order mold for cast aluminum posts and an additional $15,000 for materials.

Once Marquette purchases the mold, it will have to pay $15,000 for each additional structure.

Due to these costs, the administration and MUSG decided to build one kiosk for now. The construction period for one kiosk is six to eight weeks.

The project is scheduled to be completed by fall semester at the latest and will appear outside, south of the John P. Raynor, S.J. Library.

MUSG passed a bill Thursday to approve the construction and allocate $9,000 from its reserve fund for this project.

The Office of University Advancement gave $14,000 and Late Night Marquette, part of MUSG, contributed $5,000.

Meant as a way to communicate with off-campus and commuter students, these structures were part of Timothy Lefeber's and Emily Rostkowski's platform when they won last year's presidential and vice presidential elections.

Rostkowski, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, has discussed this idea at length with university administrators since December 2003, when she was on the student life committee as an MUSG senator.

"It just was something I really believed in," Rostkowski, MUSG executive vice president, said.

Rostkowski said the kiosks will be built with the potential for plasma screen installation if funds are available in the future.

However, MUSG administrations have been asking for such a communication device for years, said Jon Dooley, assistant dean of student development in the Office of Student Development.

He said the challenge has been establishing a structure that was not an eyesore and would be in accordance with the present beautification of campus. This beautification procedure includes the signs installed last year by each campus building.

When the bill was brought up for discussion Thursday, the O'Donnell Hall senators, two College of Arts & Sciences freshmen, brought their constituents' positive and negative comments to the table.

Patrick Landry said some residents thought the structure woud be misused, but Brock Banks said others said it would provide useful information to students.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Mar. 15 2005.