Memorial Union to introduce room fee for departments

The Memorial Union (MU) has made many improvements to enhance the building's meeting rooms and event spaces. With these revitalization efforts, coupled with rising operational costs, on July 1 the MU's event management office will begin charging a nominal room fee to university departments for some rooms or room setups. However, eight rooms still will be available in a standard furniture setup at no fee to departments. 

The intent behind the standard setups is to maintain a free option for departments and to use the meeting spaces more efficiently.

"These standard setups will help us prepare rooms in half the time, allowing us to serve more students, faculty, staff and Ames community members on a daily basis," said Seth Dohrn, assistant director of hospitality services at the MU. 

Budgeting for next year

The MU is announcing the rate policy now so departments have the information this spring as they develop their fiscal year 2025 budgets. The event management team will be contacting individuals or offices who have meeting room reservations after June 30 to make any needed adjustments. The departmental room fees are less than one-fourth of the public rental rates. 

"Our goal has always been to serve the campus community the best we can. We feel we remain a very good, cost-effective option," Dohrn said. "The new departmental rental fees will help us to continue reinvesting in our event services infrastructure and increase the amenities we're able to offer customers."

Custom spaces

The eight rooms for which customers will choose a setup according to their needs are shown in the first table. Reservations include an eight-hour rental option and six furniture layout options. The second table lists the eight rooms departments can reserve at no cost with the standard setup. 

Customized rooms 

Rooms with a standard setup*

*No room fee for departments if used in standard setup

In addition, four small meeting rooms located in or near the first-floor food court will remain free for departments to reserve.

Dohrn said there's been "a purposeful effort" to update the building's meeting spaces to make them more comfortable and functional for the groups that use them. This includes projectors and screens, AV controls, video capture technology, wall paint, flooring, digital signs outside rooms and tables and chairs. 

"We can't thank our campus partners enough for choosing the Memorial Union for their event planning needs. We look forward to serving Iowa State for many years to come," Dohrn said. 

Questions regarding the departmental room fees effective in FY25 may be directed to the MU event management office, 515-294-1437 or eventmanagement@iastate.edu.