| | Lauren Blalock/ The Lantern | | Students can work online, print and study in the new Morrill Tower computer lab. |
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The new computer lounge, about 10 feet away from the old computer lab in Morrill Tower, has a working printer and the same wide study tables as before. But the lab and the lounge were merged about a month ago. There are now about 10 computers along the wall.
Students can come to work online, print and study - all in the same room.
"I think it's great," said Jennifer Geffert, a freshman in psychology. "I feel like I can do work down here - it's like a school environment."
The housing department made these changes as part of a broader reorganization effort that they said they believe will make the department more efficient and, less costly in the long-run.
"We brought in external auditors ... to analyze our business practices to determine: are we at our most efficient?" said Toni Greenslade, an associate director of housing who works on the main floor of Morrill Tower.
Before the business-practice audits and the new changes, the business aspects of housing were handled by the Office of Student Affairs in Lincoln Tower. Two audits found that such separation was inefficient. By May 12, finances will be handled by housing staff at Morrill Tower. In preparation for this, the old computer lab on the main floor was merged with the lounge, so the old lab room could become new housing finance office space.
The board of trustees from PricewaterhouseCoopers, another auditing firm hired by the university, has mandated that all finance offices at Ohio State move in with the departments they help manage by June of 2009. The housing department is the first to merge into one place.
The housing staff concluded that the former computer lab was the best place to put this new office because it was not being used much by students during the day. Greenslade said they even counted the number of students by tracking the ID swipes at the door. Housing officials also talked to staff and students before making these changes to make sure students would not be disturbed.
Geffert and other students said they use the newly-merged lab and lounge more than the old computer lab when it was by itself next door.
Geffert said she came into the lounge early to print something for class.
"The printer saved my life this morning," she said.
D'Andrea Kinley can be reached at kinley.8@osu.edu.
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