Students seeking study space outside the crowded confines of E.S. Bird Library during finals week will get the chance starting Dec. 11. 

Student Association has arranged to keep the atrium in the Life Sciences Complex open four hours later during the weekend before and during the week of exams, answering students’ call for more study space on campus. Under the extended hours, students can study for their finals until 2 a.m. in the atrium, which normally closes at 10 p.m. 

‘During finals week, everyone is crammed in Bird,’ said junior Bonnie Kong, a representative for the College of Arts and Sciences and a member of SA’s Academic Affairs Committee.

The atrium’s late-night availability will cater mainly to Arts and Sciences students who cannot use their IDs to swipe into other schools, such as the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, and would normally turn to Bird, she said.

The atrium’s extended hours will run the length of the finals period, from Dec. 11 to Dec. 17 at 2 a.m. During the extended hours, the atrium will be designated as a quiet study area, Kong said. 

Currently, students can stay and study after the building closes if they are already inside, but the Department of Public Safety officers leave the area after 10 p.m. During the extended-hours week, DPS officers will stay to patrol the atrium and surrounding area as a safety measure for students and their belongings. 

SA began working for extended atrium hours during exam weeks in the spring after students complained that the university’s amount of study space does not measure up to the number of students who need it, especially during exams. If the plan goes smoothly this semester, Kong said SA will look to do the same during next semester’s finals.

abknox@syr.edu

Published on November 29, 2010 at 12:00 pm