Torg Center
Correction: This story has been modified from its original version. — Correction: This story has been modified from its original version. Virginia Tech has a $1.05 billion budget. The Collegiate Times regrets this error.
Although students have consistently been using Torgersen Hall past its official closing time unsupervised, Davis said he “had not had a lot of problems.”
However, “we’ve never been comfortable without some semblance of monitoring,” he said.
Albert said one of the major problems with Torgersen Hall right now is the lack of accountability for people who do remain in the building past midnight. There are no cameras installed inside some parts of the building, including the ever-populated atrium, which makes dealing
with issues such as vandalism difficult.
Davis said cameras could be installed, but each camera would cost about $200, plus the labor to install them.
Instead of being evicted at midnight by Tech police or security guards, unauthorized persons are usually evicted by custodial staff at 5 a.m.
Davis said the custodial staff asks students to leave at 5 a.m. because they are on a tight schedule to get classrooms cleaned in time for 8 a.m. classes.
“Some of the biggest issues and concerns have been from the custodial staff,” Albert said. “They’ve had some vandalism where people have torn something up during the night. They’ve also gone into a classroom to clean, flipped the light on, and there’s somebody sprawled out asleep.”
The Torgersen Hall custodial staff has experienced recent budget cuts and personnel issues. Now, three employees must perform the duties that used to be completed by seven people.
“Having the building open 24/7 could impact their ability to prep classrooms,” Davis said.
If the facility were to be truly open 24/7, at least two security guards would need to be hired, Albert said. Those guards would probably be paid as part-time wageworkers, as are many security guards.
Albert estimated the costs of hiring and retaining security guards to be between $30,000 and $50,000 per year. It is also not yet clear who would pay for the extra costs associated with camera installation and security guards.
Davis said if all authorization were given, it would not be hard to provide the student body Hokie Passport access to the building through the door facing the Drillfield.
“With a flip of a switch, we could give all students access,” he said.
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A version of this article appeared in the Feb 24 issue of the Collegiate Times.
Leave a comment 10 Comments Write a letter to the editor
All letters to the editor must include a name, e-mail, daytime phone number and affiliation to Virginia Tech. Affiliation includes: year and major for students; position and department for faculty and staff; current city for alumni and parents.
It's about time that someone came out with an article enumerating the shortfalls that the administration has made when dealing with student organizations. SGA is the student voice and the student voice needs to be amplified. I for one am pleased to see that the administration is listening to the needs of the students.
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'I think it would be in poor taste on the part of the university to not pass this,' Yates said"
No-displaying girlie posters on the walls of Torg would be in poor taste. Having chairs in clashing colors would be in poor taste. Ms. Yates might find it disappointing if the university doesn't agree with this request, but that wouldn't make it a matter of taste.
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I remember this legislation coming through the Senate when I first started with SGA in 2008. GREAT JOB MELISSA!!!! It is great that the student voice is being heard on this, even if only through the CT, especially for something so vital, such as a 24-hour on-campus study facility.
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If it has taken two years to get this idea to become a reality, then the SGA seriously needs to re-evaluate its process or focus on improving its relationship with the administration at Virginia Tech. It's a waste of time for everyone involved if it takes this long to implement such a small change.
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This is a step in the right direction, but the Torgersen lounge area is not nearly big enough to accommodate the number of students who would want to use a 24/7 study facility. There was hardly a seat to be found there at 11 am this morning. Even the 300+ non-exam seats at the Math Emporium aren't enough sometimes.
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How many people are actually studying 12-6am? It's a start, isn't it? Better than before? I applaud SGA for their hard work.
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This doesn't just apply to the lounge area. It includes the atrium on the first floor, the computer labs and any of the classrooms on the first floor (minus the 3 distance learning classrooms), the sitting area on the 2nd floor, along with the 150 seating lecture hall, and then the 300 seating lecture hall on the 3rd floor (and yes students already study in these lecture halls after hours). We are pretty confident that anyone who wants to study after 12am will be able to.
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I think the suggestion of studying all night is counter productive to good health. Sleep, and sleep at the righ times, is very important. The folks who don't have enought time between 7am and midnight to study are obviously to involved and not setting good priorities.
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You are assuming people have normal sleep schedules. Some people don't have class until 12pm because of their work schedule and they are forced to study later than 12am. Through our research, we found that 54% of the student body study studies after 12am. Check out the data here: http://tinyurl.com/torgresearch. We can extrapolate that sample set to represent all undergraduates. The majority of our peer-reviewed schools have AT LEAST 1 24 study facility.
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This is ridiculous...when the clock strikes midnight, students should be partying, not studying!
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