Tarver Library’s 24-hour study rooms in severe state of disarray

Now that Thanksgiving break is over, we only have two weeks of classes left until finals, which only means one thing: it is crunch time, folks.
We are in a sprint to the finish with papers, annotated bibliographies, projects, presentations, and tests, all within the next two weeks. It’s enough to make your head spin.
Unfortunately, there are only two ways to get through it all. One, you can pretend the work does not exist and party like there is no tomorrow. This is a relaxing alternative, but altogether unproductive.
Or, two, you could be the responsible, or just incredibly driven student, put your nose to the grindstone and get your work done until it is all finished! This is not exactly the most appealing option, but I would choose this option if given the choice between the two; but that’s just me.
In order to accomplish the second of the two options, one would most likely require late nights of doing homework, along with copious amounts of caffeine. Social interaction might be minimal, but we do what we can to survive. Late nights are what we have come to live for.
But hey, this is what we’ve spent the whole semester training for, right? Those late night runs to Jittery Joes, Kroger, Walmart, Downtown Mactown, and Waffle House, among other places have served as training sessions for these next few weeks until we obtain sweet freedom from the chains of this semester.
Part of these long nights is finding an adequate place to study. There are always places off campus that are open for 24-hours like Waffle House or IHOP, but sometimes those are not the most convenient of options.
Closer to home, the main library is open until midnight on most nights of the week, but sometimes midnight is not enough. After all, most of our homework doing does not start until around ten o’clock. Two hours in a decently crowded library is not always the best of circumstances for ultimate productivity.
Fortunately for us Mercer students there are 24-hour locations on campus.
The student center is one, but if you are already in the library there are the 24-hour study rooms available downstairs to students. Not in the library before midnight? No problem! Just use your bear card to access the area and bam! Study area, just like that.
However, while super convenient, these study rooms are definitely not in the best of shape.
I haven’t spent much time in the 24-hour study rooms, mostly because I usually find other places to study that are not on campus, as I mentioned before. I usually frequent off campus coffee shops and IHOP because of what they offer: coffee, free wi-fi, sustenance, and a 24-hour space for those all nighters I happen to pull all too frequently.
On the few occasions I have studied down in the belly of Tarver Library, I usually found people sleeping or having intense study sessions.
On occasion I find people having ‘study parties’ that don’t include much studying; that’s cool. Party on! Just try not to party too hard - did I mention that the walls are pretty much paper thin?
During my last trip to the study rooms, I finally took a look around at my physical surroundings rather than the transient company that changes throughout the night.
In a few of the rooms, there was writing on the walls, kind of like the wooden desks in Willingham. You know the ones, the desks with all of the greek symbols and abstract doodles carved into the wood.
I digress. In addition to the writing on the walls, there are weird smudges all over the walls from people who have tried to erase what they have written or maybe what other people have written.
There are also holes in multiple walls, and the furniture is in an appalling state. For the most part, I didn’t even want to sit in the seats.
They looked so repulsive, and the stains altogether looked quite questionable.
Perhaps, as students, we don’t take care of the things we use unless there is a contract with money attached to the consequences, especially when the places aren’t regularly inspected. I would hope this isn’t the case, but I’m pretty sure it is.
Most Mercer students take advantage of the 24-hour study room at least once during their college career.
Just because this area of campus isn’t frequented by outsiders or alumni doesn’t mean that we, as students, should be subjected to studying in an unappealing space.
The 24-hour study room needs a makeover, but as a donated space, who is the one to take care of this problem? Are the students supposed to take control? If so, a makeover might take awhile.
From the state the study rooms are in, it is apparent that most of the student body is rather apathetic about the situation.
We sit back, as students, complaining about problems but rarely doing anything to fix the state we find our surroundings in.
There haven’t been any improvements to those study rooms that I have noticed since I first started coming here four years ago, and I doubt there will be anything done in the near future, since there are so many other projects happening around campus.
As a school that prides itself on the importance of academic achievement, we should have a study space we are proud of; not a study space that is forgotten and used as a last resort.
Since the 24-hour study room isn’t a top priority on anyone’s list, we, as students, should preserve what we have. We, at least, shouldn’t make the state of things any worse.