| NEWS
| December 1, 2005
Housing
Laundry readers to update
Campus washrooms will receive
new card-reading devices over the break.
By I’sha
Gaines
Contributor to The Shorthorn
Students living in residence halls will soon have updated Mav Express
card readers in the laundry rooms in an effort to alleviate reader
and change machine malfunctions.
The readers will be installed in all halls over the winter break
to replace the approximately 6-year-old machines.
Kent Pawlak, campus card operations director, said the current readers
use outdated technology.
The new machines cost $15,000, compared to $1,000 for the old ones.
He said the old readers will be sent to surplus to be auctioned
off with other UTA equipment.
“Through the auction, if another department needs the machines,
they can get them,” Pawlak said. “If not, someone can
use the inside parts or the outside medal.”
Anthropology freshman Sara Austin said she contacted Zac Sanders,
political science junior and Student Congress vice president, about
her concerns in October. She said her proposal stated that Kalpana
Chawla Hall was in need of change machines or Mav Express card readers
in the washroom. She said there are two washers and three dryers
on each floor but only one change machine in the entire hall.
“When I try to wash, there is either a line, or the change
machine is out of quarters,” she said.
Austin said the change machines have been one of the biggest problems
in the washing areas. She said that when the machines take students’
money, the office assistants and residence assistant cannot return
it because they don’t have change. She said they are told
to go to other halls.
“I was told to go to Lipscomb,” she said. “Their
machine was out, too.”
Austin said it costs $1.50 to wash and dry one load. She said it
doesn’t sound like much but that for college students it can
get expensive. Though she doesn’t currently use her card,
she said she will when the new machines come in.
“I can just ask my parents to put $20 on my card,” she
said.
Austin said the machines will be more convenient for them but that
students will have to monitor their spending habits.
Students can put money on their cards at the Mav Express Office
in the University Center.
Harlan Wood, assistant director for business services, said any
money left over can be used the following semester.
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