Virginia Tech students may soon find themselves with a place to study 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
SGA president Brandon Carroll and SGA senator Melissa Yates have been working since 2008 on SGA legislation to make Torgersen Hall, specifically the first floor atrium, open and secure overnight, making it the first ever 24/7 study facility on campus.
Carroll is confident the measure can be implemented by the beginning of next semester.
“I think it’ll be implemented in the fall,” Carroll said.
Carroll presented the topic to university President Charles Steger and others as top priority to students during the University Council meeting on Feb. 15.
“This is the biggest issue for students, and it would take $50,000 out of a $1.05 billion budget,” Carroll said.
Yates also presented to the Commission on Student Affairs during their Feb. 18 meeting.
“I think it would be in poor taste on the part of the university to not pass this,” Yates said. “I see the student body having much more confidence in the administration after they pass this. The only upsetting thing is that this took two years.”
WORKING TOWARD CHANGE
Yates began examining the option of using Torgersen Hall in 2008 as the 24-hour facility when she discovered through word-of-mouth that it was already being used informally past its closing time of midnight.
“There were engineers telling me they were going to Torg to study because people were still using it until 5 (a.m.) when the cleaning staff kicked them out,” she said.
“Clearly students made their choice,” Yates said. “They had no study place so they went and made one.”
Yates wrote the legislation and it was passed after a month-long process of review. After it was passed, however, university administrators took no action.
“The SGA has no real power,” Yates said. “Legislation is usually dead after we pass it. Unless you are immediately pursuing the relevant administrators, nothing will happen. It just ends up on some person’s desk.”
Carroll explained that the governance system could be frustrating for students to make changes.
“We say we invent the future, but we never set a precedent,” he said.
He also said the SGA’s voice is not easily heard in the administration.
“It takes so long to maneuver the system,” he said. “The governance system is not helpful for students.”
Carroll said SGA members such as himself and Yates “have to be very intrinsically motivated” to make changes.
“People have to take initiative,” he said. “It’s like we have to have so much more initiative than I think we need to be having.”
“It’s not SGA’s fault that when we say something, nothing happens,” Carroll said. “Everything should have a student voice.”
Carroll said that although he’s frustrated with the amount of time it takes for legislation to pass through the administration, he is excited to see a 24/7 study facility for students as one of his last acts as SGA president.
“It’s my biggest thing that I’m trying to end with,” he said.
THE LOGISTICS OF A 24/7 FACILITY
Johnathan Davis, a facilities director of academic space management who works through the provost’s office, said he doesn’t anticipate many problems would arise if the facility were to go 24/7.
“It’s a good time to push this angle,” he said.
He said some staff members that have offices inside Torgersen Hall had been discussing making the building more accessible to students even before hearing about the SGA’s campaign.
Although not yet confirmed, it is possible that the facility could become 24/7 during a “trial period” that may be during final exam week this semester, to give students more study options and see if making the building permanently 24/7 would work.
Currently, Torgersen Hall is on 24-hour limited access after midnight. Some graduate students and employees who have offices and labs have Hokie Passport access via the card reader next to the door that faces the Drillfield.
Theoretically, this means that the general student body cannot enter or occupy the building after midnight.
Tech police, however, do not actually evict students from Torgersen Hall at midnight.
Police captain Joseph Albert said the officers who lock buildings at night don’t have time to ask students to leave buildings like Torgersen Hall at its official closing time.
They do try not to leave the doors to the building open.
Albert said many students currently use Torgersen Hall past its official closing time of midnight because they prop open the four entrance doors. Students who were inside before midnight tend to stay after midnight.
“We can run by and pull the rocks, wood wedges, trash cans and everything out, make a lap around the building and here we go again,” Albert said. “It’s just a constant issue.”
Many students take advantage of the door facing the Drillfield, through which approved persons can enter using their Hokie Passport.
“If (officers) find that door open twice, you go in and say, ‘Are you authorized to be here?’ They say yeah, so you say, ‘Step out here and try your card and see if it works,’” Albert said.
Davis has been essentially in charge of ensuring activity runs smoothly in Torgersen Hall since 2001. He said there have always been students studying after midnight in the first floor atrium.
“In the beginning, there was just a handful of students,” he said. “Now there will be almost 50 students here at 5 in the morning.”
Davis said in previous years, there had been a push to try to deal with unauthorized persons staying in the building past midnight. After the April 16, 2007 shootings, however, “our resources were stretched thin,” he said.
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.
A TWO-YEAR ENDEAVOR
Yates authored the legislation to make Torgerson Hall a 24/7 facility in 2008, and it passed in March 2009.
A transfer student from the University of Michigan, Yates said one of the first questions she asked after transferring to Tech was whether there was a 24/7 study facility in place. At the University of Michigan, she said, the undergraduate library was open until 5 a.m. and was connected by a bridge to the graduate library, which was open 24/7.
When Yates got involved with the SGA, she almost immediately began pushing her idea for a 24/7 study facility. Initially, she began to focus on the possibility of Newman Library being the 24/7 facility.
Davis said that although students have been using Torgersen Hall past midnight since he was appointed to his job in 2001, “this is the first real hard push” he has seen.
University spokesman Larry Hincker said he, too, had only recently heard of the idea of converting Torgersen to a 24/7 study facility.
Yates first conducted an extensive survey in 2008 that had just over 1,700 students respond. The data from the survey, which had to do with the operating hours of Newman Library, Yates said, made it clear: “This is not just me who wants it, this is the entire student body,” she said.
The largest category of students, 26 percent, said they spent between 10 and 15 hours studying each week. Almost 900 students, 50 percent of those asked, reported spending their majority of their time studying in their bedroom, dorm room, or apartment.
About 63 percent of students reported being “unhappy with the current hours at Newman Library,” and 76 percent said if Newman had more convenient hours, they would consider studying there.
Additionally, 90 percent of students said they study between 5 p.m. and midnight, while 50 percent said they continue to study between midnight and 6 a.m.
Yates said the survey illustrates a sentiment within the student body, especially when the sheer amount of students who replied is taken into consideration.
Students found studying in Torgersen atrium agreed with the survey results.
“I can actually bring food here and be more settled,” said Ashley Broderick, a junior interior design major.
Others, like freshman engineering major Callie Zawaski, prefer studying in Torgersen Hall because study rooms in dorms can get full.
It soon became apparent to Yates, however, that Newman Library was not going to be the best choice for the 24-hour facility.
Yates was told there was “no way” the library would extend its hours.
Davis also said he had been in contact with the library to discuss sharing of resources, especially the security guard who is currently employed at the library. He said, however, that the library staff had not been particularly cooperative with his requests.
LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE
Carroll said he is extremely hopeful for Torgersen Hall to go 24/7 as his last act as SGA president.
“I’m 95 percent certain that Torg will be 24/7,” he said.
Carroll said he believes the administration does care about students’ needs, like a 24/7 study facility. However, he said, “they are stuck in the process.”
Carroll said he hopes to see Torgersen Hall become 24/7 during final exams. If that isn’t possible, he said, the library might be an option.
Before Torgersen Hall can become approved to become a 24/7 facility, the legislation will be having a second reading before the CSA and two readings before the University Council.