As college students, we live, work, sleep and study, literally, 24 hours a day. But, unfortunately, FAU does not accommodate students’ varied schedules. Unlike many other universities in Florida – like UF, FSU and UCF – we don’t have a 24-hour library, coffee shop or any places to eat.
There are too many things going on in a college student’s life to fit it all in a regular day.
Like the owls that represent our school, a lot us are nocturnal. We sleep when others are up, we party when we should be working, and we study when we should be sleeping. Regardless of your schedule, if you want to go to the library after midnight, get coffee at 2 a.m. or food at 3 a.m., you can’t do it on campus.
The only thing open 24/7 to all students is the 24-Hour Study Lounge adjacent to the main library in the Hillel building. Heritage Park Tower and Indian River Tower residence halls have computer labs that are open 24 hours but only for the use of the tower’s residents.
“We have a 24-hour study lounge in the Hillel Wing,” says Matt Corbett, vice president of Hillel and a junior computer animation major. “But we really need to keep the library open.”
The library, which is open until midnight Monday through Thursday, closes at 8 p.m. over the weekend. Keep in mind the occasional need to be a night owl – you know, when you need to pull one of those all nighters. But, you can’t stay up all night at the library. So unless you’re coming home to a residence hall at 1 a.m., you won’t see too many students up and about around campus because there isn’t anywhere to go.
“People want coffee late at night when they’re studying and if you close it [Starbucks] at like 6:30 p.m. it doesn’t do anyone good,” says Corbett. “There should be at least something, hopefully Wendy’s (coming this fall), open 24 hours where we can get a snack or a meal.”
Well dream on Matt, that’s never gonna happen.
FAU administration said last November that it plans to make the Boca Raton campus into a more “traditional campus.” While several ideas are in the works to accomplish this task and add more to the on-campus social life, there has been no mention of any 24-hour services. I think the administration should consider asking students for some fresh ideas before they finalize their plans.
Andrew Dunkiel, chair of the Student Government Budget Committee said SG appropriated almost $5,000 to keep the library open for an extra 2 _ hours for 10 days during exam week last semester.
That’s about $200 an hour to keep the library operating. The FAU administration was able to afford nearly $600,000 for a severance package for Lawrence Davenport, the former VP for University Advancement, who resigned last April – but they can’t afford $600 a day to let students study after whenever they want?
If FAU wants to make the Boca campus more like a traditional university and step away from our tainted “just a commuter school” image, first they need to figure out how to accommodate our busy schedules – including our relentless appetites, impulsive desire for Starbucks at all hours and fondness for studying in the middle of the night.
