Sami Schwanke/Winonan

Six new TVs have been installed on one wall in Phelps Hall with two more on their way. The TVs are part of a remodeling project in Phelps to help make the department look more like a modern media center.

Mass communication department chair Ron Elcombe said the TVs were one step in the process of remodeling.

“It’s one part of a larger makeover of the department facility,” Elcombe said. “It’s a multi-year project.”

Phase one was upgrading several classrooms in Phelps Hall and remodeling them with new technology.  Phase two was modernizing the TV multimedia studio and upgrading the sets and equipment.

The next two TVs to be installed will be for university signage tailored to the Mass Communications department and the second will show student work.

The next phase will take place over winter break.

“Our carpet is 12 to 15 years old, and depending on our budget, we’d add new furniture, and we want to install trophy cases that would display awards from students and faculty,” Elcombe said.

The last phase will take place over the summer and will involve painting the hallways and remodeling the second floor.

Elcombe said the mass communication department had two sources for income on the project.

“In recent years the university has put in a revenue-sharing formula for departments regarding summer school,” he said. “The department gets a percentage share of the tuition revenue. Over the last three years, we have made a small profit from that fund. We received regular allocations for supplies and equipment and the department made a list of things we knew we needed to upgrade.”

The mass communication department has been focusing its funds on this specific upgrade project.

“We’ve been very frugal with allocations,” Elcombe said. “We always supplied what was needed, but held off for the project. We waited until we had sufficient funds for the entire project.”

The intention of the project is to create a modern environment for students and to provide them with modern equipment.

But, some ask, what is the educational benefit of eight TVs hanging in front of the main entrance of Phelps Hall?

Sophomore Mallory Nelson, a geoscience major who actively debated the topic of Phelps TVs on Twitter, does not understand why the university felt like these TVs were necessary.

“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous,” Nelson said. “These aesthetic improvements haven’t been in places where students go. Instead of gardens or walking paths, there’s technology that not a lot of people get to use.”

Nelson suggested putting technology in places where students can easily find it and use it to benefit their experience on campus. Examples of this would be the interactive computer on the second floor of Somsen and the TV in the Science Laboratory Center, which displays news and weather for students to view. The Phelps TVs, Nelson said, do not have the benefit of traffic.

“It’s really hard to think of benefits,” Nelson said. ‘There’s no seating, it’s in a high traffic area and in an area that most of the campus doesn’t use.  If people could even sit there would maybe be a value.”

Elcombe said the idea was to improve the atmosphere of the department and to make it feature modern media.

“A lot of it is just the ambiance,” said Elcombe. “Future students will see student work on display. It seems appropriate to have these kinds of things. It’s up to faculty if they want to use it. It doesn’t mean they won’t be used for class, but I don’t know of any specific ones that are using it.”

Nelson said that the problem of TVs not being used was not limited to the mass communication department.

“The TVs [across campus] have stood out to me,” she said. “Technology in cumbersome places. It’s just a showy thing.”

Nelson thought putting student tuition into things like improving food options on campus and improving technology that will be used in a classroom environment was a better alternative.

Contact Sami at [email protected]