Two organized student sit-ins in the Flawn Academic Center after closing hours Dec. 7 and 8 conveyed to University officials that some students do in fact study after 2 a.m. and in the spring semester the University plans to accommodate their nocturnal tendencies.
Information Technology Services was able to secure the funds to keep the first floor of the FAC open 24 hours a day, Sunday through Thursday, during the spring semester, said Brian Roberts, vice president for ITS. He said the proposed price for keeping it open is roughly $40 per hour, equal to about $20,000 over the course of the semester with the FAC open from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m Sunday through Thursday.
The students who organized the sit-ins advocated the facility begin 24-hour operations earlier than ITS's 24-hour finals schedule from Sunday, Dec. 10 through Wednesday, Dec. 20, but ITS was unable to meet those demands, Roberts said.
"It's a budgetary issue," Roberts said.
ITS received over $500,000 less for 2006-07 than the previous school year, Roberts said.
"I know the budget got very tight, and they looked at usage versus cost and found, while there was some usage obviously in the wee hours of the morning, it was very, very little and didn't really warrant justifying the cost to keep the labs open," said Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Kevin Hegarty.
In spring 2006, the first floor of the FAC maintained 24-hour operations and when President William Powers took office in February, there was a transition in ITS leadership, during which a decision was made to change the hours of the facility based on budget issues, said Damon Jaggars, UT Libraries associate director.
Danielle Rugoff, Student Government president and government senior, said she spoke with Powers about the issue, and the "administration definitely stands behind finding a 24-hour study facility." Powers was unavailable for comment.
Roberts said he was aware of students' desire to begin 24-hour operations earlier than Dec. 10, but the funds were not available. ITS receives its funds through student fees that information no longer appears on student receipts because of flat rate tuition, Roberts said.
Roberts said ITS has yet to figure out how to support a 24-hour facility in semesters subsequent to spring 2007 .
With efforts from SG, the University Co-op agreed to provide financial backing for a 24-hour facility more than a month ago, but this plan has not been finalized as the method to get the funds in the future, said George Mitchell, president and CEO of the Co-op.
"Student Government came to our student board members and asked if they would be interested," Mitchell said. "We said yes, then ITS came up with a price, which Student Government as well as the Co-op thought was very ridiculous, and we thought it was over."
SG is still working with both ITS and the Co-op to find funds for the facility, Rugoff said.
Roberts said the extra cost is not a question of saving energy, as the lights and computers stay on when the FAC closes, even though the monitors are off.
"It's a staffing issue, we need a guard and two staff members to be there," he said. "That's the expense. It's not electricity."
In spring 2006 only one security guard was kept on staff after 2 a.m., Jaggars said.
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