No empty Student Government Association campaign promises here.

President Maureen Holland’s campus video store initiative is approaching the end of its planning stage. The store will be located in what is now the Connelly Center travel agency, which will move into the now-vacant Ticketmas-ter booth.

It is scheduled to open in January 2003.

Explaining how the transformation will take place, Holland said, “Over Christmas break, renovations will be made to that space to accommodate the video store.” Among the renovations are new lighting, shelving and an external drop box.

The idea of on-campus video rentals has been considered in previous years, but no significant progress was ever made.

This year’s initiative was spearheaded by Harry Metzinger, SGA Special Projects chair. Metzinger worked with Tim Dietzler of Dining Services and SGA Dining Services co-chairs Sarah Banas and Stephen Selenski to decide on a location, video supplier and possible forms of payment.

Many people within SGA said they were pleased with the store’s location because hundreds of students pass through the Connelly Center daily.

After selecting a location, Metzinger said the Special Projects committee found a local video store vendor who was interested in being the store’s supplier.

According to a recent SGA survey, more students were interested in renting DVDs than video cassettes. Of the students who responded, 903 indicated that they would be interested in renting comedies, while 225 preferred dramas and 177 favored action movies. Horror and science fiction movies received about 30 votes each.

Although the number of videos is yet to be decided, SGA estimates roughly 50 videos will be kept in stock.

Most likely, a one-day rental period will be instituted so more students can enjoy the video store’s offerings.

While the Wildcard will most likely be a method of payment, the exact cost of videos has not been decided. The majority of people polled said they were willing to pay $3 per rental. Very few said they would be willing to pay more than $4.

Many students were pleased at the prospect of the video store. Sophomore Lindsey Conlin said, “It’s an amazing idea … I think it’s great we can rent videos right on campus.”

Sophomore Charles Messina added, “I think the Connelly Center is an excellent place to have the store.”