A year ago last month, ASNMU first implemented the much hyped 24-hour study lounge in the lower level of the LRC. The lounge guaranteed students a quiet, safe place to study during every hour of the day. But because of ASNMU’s eagerness to accomplish, well, anything at all, they failed to find out if students would even use the lounge in the first place.
With a new executive board, ASNMU has wisely decided to reconsider spending money on a service that NMU students hardly use.
The name “24-hour study lounge” was misleading in the first place. The lower level of the LRC was already available to students from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m. A more fitting name would have been the “$1,800-a-semester-to-stay-open-three-extra-hours lounge.” If students in the dorms needed a quiet place to study, dorm lobbies are already open all night. Keeping the lower level of the LRC open later offered students literally nothing tat they didn’t already have — for an almost $2,000 price tag.
Even with the cost, the 24-study lounge would have been worth the money if students used the service. Unfortunately, after attracting a moderate crowd in the first semester of its implementation, usage of the lounge halved in Winter 2011.
Because of well kept records by ASNMU, we know that usage of the 24-hour study lounge dropped drastically in three hours that ASNMU had paid to keep it open. Although there are always a few night owls, the amount of money spent was just not appropriate in a time when all university groups are looking at trimming the fat.
ASNMU has wisely compromised to keep the study lounge open 24 hours during peak usage times, namely during midterm and finals weeks. Because of the stressful circumstances that go along with big exams, it is sometimes necessary for students to burn the midnight oil, and have a more accommodating place for study group meetings.
While many students may complain about the loss of the study lounge, we feel that ASNMU made the right decision in cutting the study lounge hours.
Perhaps now ASNMU can invest their time and money into something students will actually use.
