UCC pledges resources to resolve library hours impasse

Students at University College Cork have vowed to continue a series of sit-in protests until library opening hours are extended.

Speaking after a second successive night of sit-ins, where upwards of 150 people kept the college's Boole Library open for nearly two hours past the prescribed closing time, UCC Student Union president Mark Stanton said demonstrations will continue until college officials provide a suitable response to their requests.

Replying to claims by the students’ union, UCC issued a statement outlining concessions that have already been made over the issue.

“The library management met with the students’ union and the head of student experience on Monday . . . but due to resource constraints a solution was not found,” it read.

“However, the library is keen to work with the students’ union on their proposal regarding opening hours . . . The library recognises that the optimum space for students to study in is the library, and management will continue to seek additional resources to extend opening hours.”

Union’s view

Mr Stanton’s position was that “if the university won’t open it for us we’ll keep it open ourselves . . . We’re just keeping the library open until what we see as a reasonable hour,” he added.

“We kept it open until 11pm last night and we’ll probably do the same tonight if we don’t get an answer. It’s not so much a protest as giving students what they need before exams.”

Although opening hours are usually extended from 9.15pm to 10.15pm for finals exams in May, the decision to retain normal opening hours this month despite the introduction of semesterised testing for Christmas has left the college’s attendees feeling disenfranchised.

“Students are stressed enough and by not providing appropriate study spaces, the university is only adding to this pressure. This morning the college gym opened at 7am and closed at 10pm. The library opened at 8am and closed at 9.15pm,” said Mr Stanton.

It has become common practice for colleges and universities to implement late-night library services in the run-up to busy exam periods, with some libraries kept open until 2am or throughout the course of the night.

Indeed, this isn't the first time that disgruntled students have attempted to force a college's hand on the same issue. Similar demonstrations were held on the campuses of IT Tralee and University College Dublin in 2010 and 2012 respectively in response to library cutbacks.