This year, the Senior Class Council wants to contribute a large electronic sign as its parting gift to the U.
Publicizing the events and services available to students through ASUU was the council’s main motivation in selecting an electronic sign as the senior class gift, according to Clara Pugsley, senior class president.
The council hopes to put the sign on the corner of 5th South and Guardsman Way, the intersection just east of Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Although the council has been working on its plans of getting an electronic sign to campus for months, council members cannot expect the sign to go up anytime soon.
“All we have done is some very sketchy and preliminary planning on it,” said John Huish, the director of campus design and construction. “There is not even a selected site.”
Huish said there are still many logistic issues the U would have to work out, such as where to put it and who will run it before a sign could go up on campus.
“It’s quite a complicated little project,” he said. “If it’s a class gift, they need to get something happening really fast, we don’t even have so much as an artist’s conception yet.”
The council is only partially funding the sign, with the U picking up the rest of the sign’s cost, according to Pugsley. Because the council is relying on the U for money, this makes the wait for full funding uncertain.
“They’re pretty much ready to go but they’re still working out the funding,” Pugsley said. “They won’t be done by the end of the summer.”
The Associated Students of the University of Utah is also waiting to find out how much it will contribute as their part of the senior class gift. The Senior Class Council has $2,700 left to contribute to the sign, but hopes to contribute much more with money left in the Executive Cabinet budgets.
The information advertised on the electronic sign will go through the scheduling office for approval, and will not be strictly ASUU material.
“There are some services of ASUU that are definitely under- used, it’s just a medium to get information out to students,” Pugsley said. “I think the purpose is to get out information that is pertinent to students, information about the U to the public at large and to help the community be more involved in campus life.”
Huish also believes an electronic sign could be a valuable asset to the campus, but he doubts how effective it could be.
“I think people driving by the U can know what’s going on,” he said. “I don’t know if you can get all that kind of information on a reader board that you are driving past at 40 miles an hour.”