{ title: 'The Prospector (Helena, Mont.) 1916-2015, September 27, 2012, Page 3, Image 3', download_links: [ { link: 'http://www.loc.gov/rss/ndnp/ndnp.xml', label: 'application/rss+xml', meta: 'News about Chronicling America - RSS Feed', }, { link: '/lccn/TheProspector/2012-09-27/ed-1/seq-3.png', label: 'image/png', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/TheProspector/2012-09-27/ed-1/seq-3.pdf', label: 'application/pdf', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/TheProspector/2012-09-27/ed-1/seq-3/ocr.xml', label: 'application/xml', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/TheProspector/2012-09-27/ed-1/seq-3/ocr.txt', label: 'text/plain', meta: '', }, ] }
About The Prospector (Helena, Mont.) 1916-2015 | View This Issue
The Prospector (Helena, Mont.), 27 Sept. 2012, located at <http://montananewspapers.org/lccn/TheProspector/2012-09-27/ed-1/seq-3/>, image provided by MONTANA NEWSPAPERS, Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana.
O pinion W A N T E D : L o n g e r l i b r a r y h o u r s I know the Carroll secu rity guards better than I should. I have had far too many run-ins with the always daunting Securitas. In fact, last year, at least three times a week, I had unfortunate encounters with Securitas in the wee hours o f the night. Now, I’m sure you’re thinking I ’m a hell-raising badass after whom campus security is in constant pursuit. If that’s what you were thinking, you’re right. I am a hell-raising badass, but that is not why Securitas is constantly on my case. In fact, the only reason I’m so familiar with campus security is because, too many times, I find myself in the library at clos ing time. Yes, I am one o f those students who are consistently doing homework past midnight. Pretty badass, eh? And the sad truth is. I am not alone. When Securitas makes its rounds, kicking me out o f the library at midnight it’s a regular round-up. Every time I am escorted out o f the library I am followed by a herd o f sleep-deprived students, and none o f us are actually finished with our school work. Typically, when Securitas comes around to tell me it’s last call in the Corette Library, I have to quickly imbibe one last thought and start walking across campus to find a quiet place to study in Simper- man. Alright, I admit that walking across campus isn’t really that much o f a burden, and the brisk air might even be a good bracer, but, still, it would be much easier to keep my concentration and momentum going if I could just stay put in the library. Relocating during a study session, or while writing a paper is frustrating and detrimental to the ultimate goal o f com pleting work. So. here is my modest proposal: I think the library should be open later than midnight on school nights. Of course, not just for my sake, but for all o f the procrastinators o f the Carroll community. The truth is. not every one ushered out of the library' at midnight is procrastinating. Some o f us are just badass studiers. Many of my comrades are working as hard as they can because Carroll’s curriculum is not easy, and they are doing everything they can to keep their heads above water. I’m not lobbying for a 24-hour library'. That would be extreme. Instead. I am sug gesting a few extra hours. Perhaps Sunday through Thursday our library could be late night? For instance. Gonzaga University'’s library' is open until 2 a.m. on school nights. I also recognize that this could put a strain on the library staff. Perhaps those like myself interested in extending the library' hours could pitch in to make the extended hours work? I am in no wav endorsing lack o f sleep or procrastination. Rather. I see extending the library hours as an opportunity to make Carroll more student friendly. “At Santa Clara you never had to worry that the library would be closed. It was open until at least 2 a.m. every night, including weekends, and during finals week it was 24/7,” said Elbe Kitchell. a transfer sophomore double majoring in bi ology pre-med and French about Carroll’s library hours compared to her previous school. Santa Clara University. I know I am not alone in this stance because I have plenty o f badass studi ous company, like Elbe, each time I am removed from the library by Carroll’s formidable campus security. Student opinion JAY BOUCHARD D o r m c r i s i s : I s i t r e a l l y a p r i o r i t y ? PHOTO BY DANA MILLER Good news everybody! Car- roll College has taken rooms in Guadalupe Hall and St. Charles and turned them into bedrooms for students. Housing Crisis averted. More good news! In a move to accom modate the nmnber of faculty members and the minimal amount o f office space available for them last year, Carroll Col lege has also decided to convert existing donns in Borromeo Hall into faculty and staff offices. In Guadalupe Hall, five new bedrooms, fonner classrooms, have been made avail able to students. In St. Charles, where the fourth floor recreation and exercise room used to be, there are now two new bedrooms. On Borromeo’s basement level, where Father Lowney’s office was lo cated, there is now a substantially smaller office and one new bedroom. And finally, on the main floor o f Bor romeo, where there were nearly a dozen single donn rooms available, there are now nearly a dozen faculty offices. It seems not only redundant, but a little ridiculous to me that the school would do something so ridiculously redundant. My problem with the way Carroll has decided to handle the housing crisis is two-fold. First, why would the school convert donns into offices? Logic would dictate that if the school has more students who want to live on campus than beds avail able, they should move to preserve the already existing donns. With the knowledge that the school is in the midst o f a housing crisis, what administrator would even think to convert readily available donn rooms into any thing else? The best explanation would be that the faculty office space crisis was as bad, or worse than the housing crisis. In which case, it is entirely understandable that certain portions o f campus buildings be converted into offices. But this leads me to my second problem with the way in which the housing crisis was handled. The fact that classrooms, recreation rooms and existing offices were converted into dorm rooms points to the fact that there were areas on campus that could have easily been made, or in the case o f Father Lowney, remained, office space for faculty. Why would the school go through the process o f converting dorms into offices and free space into dorms? Why not cut out the middle man? Leave the dorm rooms as donn rooms, and convert the available recreation and classroom space into offices. The reason given by school administra tors is that, in converting an entire hallway of donn rooms, as opposed to various rooms scattered across campus, into offices, business can be done in a more efficient manner. Instead o f having to walk from O’Connell to St. Charles to O’Connell again, students and faculty can confine their business with the school to one building, where offices are consolidated. In light o f the limited amount of housing, the school is also looking into the possibility o f constructing more on campus housing, which would explain the surveys several students took at the begin ning o f the semester. All in all, I can appreciate the fact that Carroll is trying its best to reconcile the finite amount o f on-campus space and the growing demand for that space. But it seems unfair to students, specifically Dorm rooms have become offices juniors and seniors for whom Borromeo rooms are specifically set aside for, to convert nearly a dozen readily available upperclassmen rooms into offices. Zach Rosen, senior literature major from Huntington Beach, Calif., and resident o f Borromeo Hall may have put it best when he said, “It would have been beneficial for both parties to have kept those rooms.” “It was a good choice because we needed the office space, but at the same time it was a bad choice because we also need the student space.” said Devon Batlion a ju nior computer science major from Beaver ton. Ore. “ In a way, it could become more advantageous because now we can focus on more student oriented buildings being built around campus, versus building more offices for faculty and staff.” Student opinion JON MEN We want YOU to write for I j b The Prospector! / / / / Students of all years and majors are encouraged to contribute. Please contact our staff by sending an email to prospector@carroll.edu. Thursday,September 27, 2012 The Prospector 3
