Construction is underway to add lockers in the Hixson Union Building for the convenience off-campus students at Whitworth.

Nicole Boymook, Whitworth’s new assistant dean for off-campus students and student success, was the first to propose the idea with some feedback from an off-campus student.

“There are 39 off-campus freshman students this year,” Boymook said.

These students often commute from home to the school by bus. Staying on campus for over six hours a day carrying around books without having a place to put them has not been an ideal situation, Boymook said.

“At the beginning of the year I asked students what they needed most, and they said that they needed lockers,” Boymook said.

The HUB contained lockers around the post office 10 years ago, but they were later taken out because the coffee shop was being redone and the space was needed to install more mailboxes.

Boymook and Linda Yochum, administrative secretary of student activities, are working together to write the policies concerning the lockers. They will only be available to off-campus students, considering that on-campus students have rooms relatively close to their classrooms.

To get a locker, students will have to register at the info desk in the HUB.

Once students are registered they will be assigned a specific locker that will be theirs until the end of the school year.

Students must supply their own lock and the school is not responsible for any lost or stolen items from the lockers.

“There are going to be 45 lockers put into the HUB” Boymook said.

Twenty-five lockers will be next to the post office. The other 20 will be located in the front entrance of the HUB. The skateboard rack and the newspaper stand were moved to make space for the lockers. The newspaper stand has been moved to info desk.

While 45 lockers will allow only a small fraction of students to store their belongings on campus, this is considered a trial run. If there is a good response from students and there is more interest by other students, more lockers will be installed  the next school year for the convenience of more students.

Boymook said she was grateful to Brian Benzel, the vice president of finance and administration, for making funds available to be used for this project.

“The lockers were not a part of this year’s budget, so I was very pleased that it was seen as a need,” Boymook said.

Once the lockers are ready for use, students will receive an email from either Boymook or the HUB info desk with more information on how to register for a locker.

Contact Catherine Porter at [email protected]