Dear Editor:
I understand that the library’s renovation is needed, and that it will soon be over. That said, there are many students (myself included) who need a quiet space to study with seating and an adequate electrical supply to power our laptops. The library has kindly offered several alternative study spaces scattered over the grounds of the campus, but after trying several of these spaces, they are either filled to capacity, have several talking students/staff that carry on loud conversations, or there is no electrical supply. For a while, the study cubes in the library worked for electricity, but that has been disabled for several weeks. When asked, no one seems to know when or how they will be provided electricity again. Over the last 2 hours, I have tried four separate spaces to study: the 3rd floor of the library, the 2nd floor of the library, the English Building, and the Student Center Adult Learning room. The library and English building offer no electric, and the Adult Learning room seems to be more of a social space than anything else, and offers exteremely limited access to an outlet to plug in a laptop. I am now close to 0% on my battery, and have wasted too much time trying to find someplace to study.
When I applied to this school, I was assured that this is a state of the art school and that students are put first here. I have found that to be largely untrue in terms of finding a place to study. How is an increasingly growing student body supposed to achieve the levels of success that they have potential to reach when it is a constant struggle just to find an appropriate study space? Also, the construction crew at the library needs to remember that they are working FOR us (it says so on all the signs around the library–it’s for KSyou), not that we should work around them. We have been very accommodating to the noise, the influxes of heat and cold, and insane levels of dust, but the weeks of no power are really too much.
Michelle Slotter
Freshman, Management
