Though the Residence Halls Association Movie Offices have experienced difficulty in the past, this semester, they opened on time.
The five offices, located in Brody, Phillips, Holden, Akers and Gilchrist halls, opened Tuesday for the semester. RHA rents movies to dorm residents for free.
"We're going to spend the semester building up the program," said Adam Raezler, director of movie offices, citing about $10,000 in purchases for new furniture, a new computer system and decorative posters.
RHA generates revenue through a student tax every semester and other sources.
"We want it to look like a movie-rental office," Raezler said.
RHA previously had trouble keeping the offices open. Last academic year, the offices opened late because of understaffing. The year before that, RHA was over its budget and couldn't open the offices.
Raezler said, ever since he became director in the fall, the offices have functioned smoothly. Last semester, about 4,200 students rented from the offices.
Advertising freshman Alena Krone said she visited an office last semester, but they didn't have the movie she wanted.
"I would go if they had a bigger selection," she said.
Raezler said RHA will continue to widen its selection, after having converted to an all-DVD format. Each office has 400 DVDs, compared to the 30 it started with last semester. VHS tapes were put on sale for $2 each, Raezler said. RHA used the proceeds to buy more DVDs.
RHA has spent $16,000 on the DVDs and officials might allocate $8,000 to buy 700 DVDs for each office by the end of the semester, including new releases, which Raezler said the offices will receive the day they appear in stores.
Students complaining about no longer being able to rent VHS tapes was a minor concern. The lack of VHS requests by students was a main reason why RHA decided to get rid of VHS completely, Raezler said.
"The other is that we had no vendor in the area that sells them in the quantity we need," Raezler said.
English sophomore Jessica Shamberger said she rented from RHA quite a bit last semester, taking out movies such as "Ghost Ship" and "Sleeping Beauty."
"It's good, because you don't have to leave the building," she said. Shamberger also likes the wide selection and how quickly the offices get new releases.
Raezler said another project for the offices is getting TV series on DVD for rent. The most requested series are "ER," "The Simpsons" and "Sex and the City." RHA also is planning contest giveaways during the Oscar and Golden Globe awards, if the budget for it is approved by RHA.
"Around the Oscars, we're going to feature nominated films," Raezler said. The offices will have ballots for students to fill out who they think will receive awards. Winners will get award-winning movies, such as "The Godfather" trilogy.
