SG replacing campus charging stations

UF’s Student Government will replace on-campus phone charging stations next month.

SG is removing five charging stations and replacing them with four updated ones, said Ty Robare, the Action SG chairman. The stations, which will be purchased for $7,180, will be located at Library West, Marston Science Library, the Hub and the Reitz Union.

They’ll also come with lockers to secure phones while they charge.

Previously, stations were at Library West, the Hub, the Reitz, Student Recreation and Fitness Center and Southwest Recreation Center. SG removed stations at the two gyms in Spring because students said they would rather keep their phones while working out, Robare said. The Marston station was added as more people used the library.

Each station costs $1,795, he said. The money came from the technology line in the SG budget.

iPhone 4 chargers will no longer be available, he said. Chargers for iPhone 5 and newer models, as well as Android USB chargers, will be at stations.

There will be eight lockers at each station, with the same locks found in UF’s gyms, he said. There will be three charging cords in each.

Robare said SG first got the stations in 2012.

“Those stations, over the course of about three years, grew technological defects,” he said.

Aaron Chambers, a UF computer science junior, said the lockers would prevent theft.

“I used the whole locker thing before at a music festival, and it works really well,” the 20-year-old said.