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New box office location creates hassle for students, theater department

By Rachel Mater on February 4, 2011 6:00 am in Events Center / 3 comments

 

The relocation of the Central Box Office to the new Events Center has inconvenienced not only students, but some faculty as well.

Virginia Beauchamp said box office location has become a hassle for her because she is required to attend productions at the Bush Theatre for classes.

“When it was a centralized location it was easier to stop by and now it’s so out of the way,” the Iron River senior said.

Beauchamp said it takes her an extra trip now, but because of classes she can’t get there before 5 p.m.

Romulus sophomore De’Shawna Hill said she feels similar, saying the Bovee University Center location of the box office was better because more students gather in there.

“The new location is still a far walk from the Towers,” Hill said. “They could have kept them both open.”

Director of University Theatre Steve Berglund said the timing of the move was bad, but he trusts that it will work out in the long run.

“I wish they would have had a conversation with us prior to the change so we could’ve made the necessary changes,” Berglund said.

“We were given no notice and so we had to change the publicity mid-season,” he added.

Bob Ebner, director of University Events, said the change of location creates convenience because there is only one place to go.

“The goal has always been to combine the two box offices,” Ebner said. “We designed a larger ticket system right into the Events Center.”

Beauchamp said she is only by the Events Center for football games, but she is at the Bovee University Center at least twice a week because of the CMU Bookstore and Independent Bank.

“Multiple locations could be a fix and create more jobs,” Beauchamp said.

Beauchamp said that if she didn’t have to go see productions for her classes she would probably buy fewer tickets.

“It makes me angry to have to go buy tickets now,” she said.

Hill said that if she didn’t have a car she would just end up buying tickets at the door instead.

Ebner said it doesn’t look like they will open the location back up at the Bovee U.C.

Currently, tickets can be bought online, but costs an extra $4. The cost of tickets being bought online are being worked out, Ebner said.

“I just thought the location that it was at was prime,” Beauchamp said.

 

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  • Krupp1am

    I work at the new box office “Tickets Central” and might I say that pieces of this article are rediculous. One may want to consult with actual workers or managers of the office so that information can actually be accurate. First off, I do not deny the walk from the towers, and basically everywhere besides the Merril Quad, can be grueling. I have to walk every day here. I do miss having my classes being right where I work. Also, It is quite the pain that our walk-up orders have decreased severly, yet our phone and internet orders pour in. But not much has really changed for us besides location. Our office has ALWAYS been open until 5pm. We actually open up 2 hours earlier now. From 8-5 we are open for your and the rest of the communities convenience because we did move further from the central location of campus. And with ticket charges, it has always been a $3.00 processing charge for any credit card order, be it over the internet, over the phone, or even in person. It was never $4.00. We also have never heard anything about changing the prices of that. It has to do with our ticketing system and our credit card mechine. Every credit card charges money when you purchase something, we just dont hide the fees. The only time you can escape that fee is if you pay cash or check (and no, student accounts are not accepted) in which the fee is then $0.50. We get a ton of people complaining about the fee, but have you ever bought a ticket through ticketmaster? Those fees can be up to $15.00. I do miss our old location greatly. we never even knew the exact move date until about 1 week before. I dont even think all of our things are moved out yet. But i ask, please understand that we did not choose this. We would still be at the UC if we could. And, we are doing all that we can in order to make it as convenient for you as possible.

  • Krupp1am

    I work at the new box office “Tickets Central” and might I say that pieces of this article are rediculous. One may want to consult with actual workers or managers of the office so that information can actually be accurate. First off, I do not deny the walk from the towers, and basically everywhere besides the Merril Quad, can be grueling. I have to walk every day here. I do miss having my classes being right where I work. Also, It is quite the pain that our walk-up orders have decreased severly, yet our phone and internet orders pour in. But not much has really changed for us besides location. Our office has ALWAYS been open until 5pm. We actually open up 2 hours earlier now. From 8-5 we are open for your and the rest of the communities convenience because we did move further from the central location of campus. And with ticket charges, it has always been a $3.00 processing charge for any credit card order, be it over the internet, over the phone, or even in person. It was never $4.00. We also have never heard anything about changing the prices of that. It has to do with our ticketing system and our credit card mechine. Every credit card charges money when you purchase something, we just dont hide the fees. The only time you can escape that fee is if you pay cash or check (and no, student accounts are not accepted) in which the fee is then $0.50. We get a ton of people complaining about the fee, but have you ever bought a ticket through ticketmaster? Those fees can be up to $15.00. I do miss our old location greatly. we never even knew the exact move date until about 1 week before. I dont even think all of our things are moved out yet. But i ask, please understand that we did not choose this. We would still be at the UC if we could. And, we are doing all that we can in order to make it as convenient for you as possible.

  • http://twitter.com/sdonetti Sarah Donetti

    I have to concur with those who dislike the new location. I live in Larzelere so going to the Events Center is a nearly 20-minute walk–combine that with the frigid weather out right now and there’s very little incentive for me to make the trip over to buy tickets. Which is a shame, because many of the performances from the Theatre department look very interesting this semester.