With DePauw's tuition recently surpassing the $50,000 benchmark, students here should have as many amenities available to them as possible. One of these courtesies should be a place to study.
Many projects, papers and assignments at DePauw require students to work in groups, yet tables in Julian are very hard to come by in the evenings. And Roy O. West Library's cubbies are far from optimal for group work. Study rooms in both Roy O. and Prevo Science Library are hot commodities, which have resulted in a four-hour time limit. As finals season rapidly approaches, students will need group these study spaces to prepare for their exams and final presentations, so these rooms will undoubtedly be in short supply come May.
But there are other rooms available to accommodate group study - specifically, the rooms of DePauw's academic buildings. However, these academic buildings are locked in the evenings, leaving classrooms unutilized by students. Countless times I have been in a room in Julian during the evening with a group of students but have been kicked out at its closing. Many times I have walked around Julian and failed to find place to resume working. My group and I are then forced to walk to another building, only for the same situation to happen again. This time spent looking for a place to study could be time actually spent studying if more spaces on campus were open.
I am at a loss when I try to understand why we cannot use these rooms. We pay a high price to attend DePauw, and we should be provided with adequate study space. Shouldn't we be using this space so as to utilize as much of our campus's facilities as possible? Isn't it a waste to power these buildings at night if we can't use them? Students should be able to use the buildings because our tuitions contribute to keeping them functioning. It is not fair to close these spaces off to students when they could be used for positive study experiences.
As an economics major, I find it very beneficial to use dry-erase boards while studying for my exams. As a visual learner, it helps my memory to draw graphs and do problems on the boards. The classrooms that are locked all have large boards. So why can't I use these boards if I want to?
The big question here concerns trust. Does DePauw not trust us as students to take care of its classrooms? Do they think that if they leave these rooms unlocked that we will leave the classroom in a worse condition than when we arrived? Do they think a professor will show up to their classroom in the morning only to find a bunch of used Solo cups and beer cans scattered across the floor? At DePauw, we're student first. Students use academic buildings for academic work. They use places such as fraternities and houses for other late night activities. There's no reason that our students should not have the option to use these rooms for studying at night if they please. DePauw needs to trust its students, as investors in the university, to be adults and be respectful to the property around them.
- Stutzman is a junior economics and religious studies major from Brownsburg, Ind.