A Place to Call Our Own

 As Midterms inch too close for comfort, the need to study races upward. At this point in the semester, late nights are unavoidable. The shaky balance between work and education can often lead to a progressively thinner sense of free time. Chasing a day off may require pulling a lot of late nights. 

That said, while trying to complete homework, MSU students are often limited to cement cubes disguised as dorm rooms or an apartment with awful lighting. To alleviate this issue, the school needs to provide students with extended access to school buildings.

Whatever the situation, students at MSU are likely to study in their living space out of convenience or necessity. It can be nice to study outside while the weather is nice; unfortunately, the weather and lighting make it difficult to study by the duckpond during the later hours of the night. The library and SUB house the majority of students until their closure at midnight. However, these places offer a temporary solution to a student’s studies. Spending hours inside a living space can erode any positive connotations associated with the area. Rooms should be viewed as a place for relaxation and rest; conversely, after spending untold hours on homework those walls may start to recede. Assimilating the anxious air of a workplace into a room meant for sleep has palpable side effects. The winter months already do a great job of heralding in a seasonal feeling of grief and restlessness so there should be no need to get a head start.

 Some buildings on campus are major specific, such as Haynes Hall or the Plant Growth Center, whereas Reid and Wilson Hall function as more generalized buildings. If students had 24 hour access to either a major specific or generalized building, then they would be free to enjoy their living space without the added stress. This privilege would also create a beneficial work environment where students are able to ask questions among their peers. A feeling of comradery combined with an environment of progress creates a place of learning within the desired field. All students deserve a location to pursue education at a pace entirely their own in a place curated for student success. 

It is understandable that the school would be apprehensive at the thought of letting students have access to the campus buildings at all times. That is, after all, plenty of time for something to go wrong and would most likely cause an increase in the number of hours that custodial services would have to work. Ideally, students should respect the space enough to keep it clean themselves, but this sort of partnership might not be seen as favorable for either party involved. Some concessions on the side of the students, such as only having access on the weekends, would allow the university to begin researching this as a proof of concept. 

The only way for university life to improve is to take steps in a direction of change. There are already students who have access to their buildings at all times so although it is a small sample size, long-standing examples are present at the university, such as the Visual Communications Buildings and Cheever Hall upon request. With proper care taken between both the students and the university, an opportunity to further stabilize the mental corrosion prevalent in academia presents itself. 

One of the primary goals of a university should be to make the college experience worth going through. Students are welcomed into a culture that necessitates crunch and hard work beyond what is deemed healthy. To help students through this process, the school should step up and broaden the spaces available for studying.