This is Hillsdale College. It isn’t uncommon for a student to double major, be in a fraternity or sorority, hold leadership within a club, play an instrument, compete on an athletic team, work an on-campus job, and do a million other things. A combination of time constraints and individual preferences sometimes requires studying and trudging through homework into the early hours of the morning. This becomes a problem, however, when there exists no place a student can go to accomplish those tasks.
Many students find it nearly impossible to study in their dorms. And for those who need a quiet and secluded location, the union isn’t optimal. This leaves the library and the classrooms (unless one needs access to books, in which case there is only the library). With the library closing at 1:00 a.m. and the classroom buildings closing at 2:00 a.m. on weeknights, many students must wander back to their dorms with a pile of unfinished work, knowing that their productivity and the quality of their work are going to decrease significantly.
Keeping the Mossey Library open for an extended period of time is the ideal solution. Its location in the middle of campus, access to a plethora of literature, and secluded study areas allow students to work continuously on their homework in a place designed for such activities without having to worry about the time. If the concern is not being able to find students to keep the library open, there are multiple students whom I have talked to who would be willing to work shifts into the early morning hours. If the concern is not being able to fund such operations, this could be offset by a minimal increase in the price of, say, meal plans.
If it is absolutely impossible for the library to extend its hours, then keeping the classroom buildings (or even just one) open seem to be the next best option.
Currently, classroom buildings are open until 2:00 a.m. — just one hour after the library closes. Although classrooms don’t provide students the same access to books and other such facilities that the library might offer, they still provide quiet and secluded study areas. The risk of anything questionable happening is low as, even now, buildings are locked such that only those with IDs can enter, and there are security cameras in the hallways. Allowing students to remain in these buildings should come at no increased cost to the college, and would give students a place to do their work effectively.
Hillsdale College is an institution which demands a high level of intensity from its students to match its academic rigor. In pursuit of high achievement, virtue, and truth, it only makes sense that students be provided with the resources oftentimes necessary for the completion of those tasks.
