With enrollment growing every year, some buildings and classrooms around campus are running out of places for students to sit before or in between classes.

Campus Services had a solution to this problem and has begun installing almost 400 new benches that will all be put in place in the coming months to help alleviate hallway congestion in high-traffic buildings on campus.

Almost 200 benches have already been placed in Carver, Coover, Gilman, Hoover, Howe, Lagomarcino, Pearson and Physics halls and, some students say they’re needed.

Austin Nelsen, sophomore in pre-business, said he sees students sitting on the ground in Carver “all the time,” and he thinks the benches “should be posted every 20 feet.”

Nicolas Cesario, sophomore in industrial technology, disagreed with Nelsen and said that “not often” does he see students sitting on the floor in Carver, and he does not believe that installing any more benches is necessary.

Nathan Graves, construction manager for facilities planning and management, said it was known that the additional benches were a need on campus because there were several “kids sitting on the ground” in busy hallways throughout campus.

Graves said the install team took “heat maps of credit hours” throughout campus, meaning they looked at the number of students and credit hours in a specific classroom or building, and allocated the benches to the areas with most need for additional seating.

Graves, who organized the transportation and installing of the benches, said almost all of the wood being used is cyprus wood from “old fencing at University Village, which the students donated.”

A few benches will be made of an old oak tree from Central Campus, Graves said. After the tree was dried out, it was sent through the TreeCYcle program on campus, and then it was sent to the Iowa Prison Industries where the wood was made to look like new and be assembled into the benches.

The benches were then shipped back to campus to be installed by the Campus Services crew.

“Benches would be good because I can count multiple times where I had to sit on the floor of Carver and Lago,” said McKenna LeClere, sophomore in elementary education.

Graves said the hope is to have the additional 200 benches installed early in the spring semester.