As of March 1, Bates students can now enjoy extended hours of academic buildings on campus. This action was pushed by Bates College Student Government leadership with the intention of making the building more accessible for students.
What prompted BCSG to do this? Who on the BCSG team was the one who came up with this idea?
Ethan Chan ‘25, the Co-President of BCSG, explains that, “BCSG had received some concerns from students, one of which was a thesis student who needed to enter Carnegie to conduct a thesis study with community members on weekends outside of open building hours and did not like contacting campus security to do this.”
This situation was originally brought up during a meeting in September. And after a few more meetings that occurred in November and January, BCSG officially extended building hours.
These alternative hours are intended to maximize students opportunities on campus. Similarly, Chan shared that it’s especially important for STEM students because “they’re able to spend more time in lab spaces that they absolutely need access to and can’t do work without.”
Outside of STEM students, the longer building hours are still beneficial. “I think that it’s just a good step in accessibility for all students to have greater access to the places that we pay for and enjoy using and studying, working and collaborating on campus,” Chan said.
Another building worth mentioning is Pettengill which is now open 24/7 Monday-Saturday. This is a big bonus to students because it provides a vast amount of amenities. For example, Dell Computers, a variety of printers, and department lounges that are optimal for collaboration. Given this, it is necessary to have a work space that is accessible following activities in the evening.
According to BCSG’s Newsletter that came out on March 1 “ALL buildings have extended hours!” However, this excludes the Ronj, Ladd Library as well as athletic facilities as they are separate from academic buildings. This was fortunately made possible by the BCSG team, Access Control and Campus Safety.
