Chargers and headphones are essential for students. Not having timely access to them can get in the way of students’ abilities to use their time efficiently to fulfill their academic responsibilities.

UT should expand checkout stations for chargers and over-the-ear headphones to study spaces across campus, such as the Student Activity Center, so that student productivity and learning isn’t hindered on campus. 

Although many students have these items, they may not bring them to campus for a variety of reasons, such as forgetting them at home. While some students may be able to return home and retrieve them, others may live far from campus and be unable to do so. Students may even have items that don’t work properly and are not able to promptly purchase a replacement.   

While students may ask around their study space for these items, it can take a while to get a hold of them, and students may come up empty-handed.  

Lauren Haughey, a radio-television-film junior, said she believes checkout stations for these items are a good idea. 

“I think that would be a great idea, especially if you want the area to be quiet. I think that would just be a really nice resource for students to have in general,” Haughey said. “It’s something that I think would really benefit students, and I think that it’s not a huge ask of the University.” 

When students do not have access to these items while at a particular study space, they may postpone their work until they get home, especially if they are unaware that certain items are available at other study spaces on campus. By that time, it may be very late in the day and students might be tired. They would not be able to perform or be productive at the same level as they would have if they did their work earlier while on campus. 

“I’m trying to charge my phone, and sometimes I forget the adapter,” computer science junior Timm Dinh said. “(Checkout stations) are very convenient.” 

Starting in the fall of 2022, students will be able to check out chargers at the Physics, Math, and Astronomy library. It is a system created by engineering students. The University should expand on the resources available to students by creating checkout stations in more study areas.    

“For study spaces across campus there is varied availability (of equipment),” said Kathleen Harrison, assistant director of University marketing and communications, in an emailed statement. “There are headphones available at the PCL and the Fine Arts Library and chargers or charging cords that can fit existing USB or power outlets at most other locations.”

Study spaces across campus should have chargers and headphones available for students to use. Not all of these spaces have the same resources, and since most students already bring their own chargers and headphones to campus, any particular study space would not have a high student need. Therefore, the University should expand checkout stations by distributing some of the headphones and chargers already being provided in different locations to other study places across campus, so that these resources are being more efficiently allocated and readily available for students to use.  

Students should be able to make efficient use of their time for school-related work, and UT can help make that happen by expanding charger and headphone checkout stations to study spaces across campus. 

Kamal is an international relations and global studies and economics junior from Irving, Texas.