Save money and close The Joe early
This has been a rough year for the University of Nevada, Reno.
The state budget cuts have hurt this campus and every student enrolled here. There will be no more math and writing centers. Each department that has been cut this year or will be in the following years hurts the credibility of this university and our progress as a whole.
What bothers me most though, is that as we consider slashing specific departments, our new Joe Crowley Student Union still closes at midnight during the week and at 2 a.m. on the weekends. Meanwhile, the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center, the very place where we should be studying, closes at midnight.
Wouldn’t you think that in times like these, when tutoring programs are being cut and tuition is rising, that the last thing we would think about is buying another café latte at Starbucks?
Our education should take priority over any frivolities our new student union has to offer. While I know our university is doing all it can to protect our education, it still seems that we are carelessly spending money to keep The Joe open late.
Do not mistake me. I take pride in The Joe. But we have to re-manage our staff and think of practical solutions to the times we are in right now.
We need to relocate staff to priority locations on campus to increase the potential of the resources granted to us. All the money we are saving, by cutting staff and faculty should be redistributed back to the Knowledge Center so that students who really need to study in the library where there are books and resources, can do so.
It is not fair when your group is stressing over an exam and the next thing you hear is you have to leave one of the places on campus designed for that very purpose.
It is preposterous. This needs to be fixed. Any of you who are out there should demand answers and action.
That said, when Starbucks and Port of Subs close, that’s when the union should close.
After 9:00 p.m. there is hardly anyone in the student union, and the student staff, for the most part, is bored. I thank the staff for what they are doing, but it is wasted money that can be used to keep our library open later so students can remain concentrated on their studies and not worry whose house they have to relocate to after they’re booted out of the library.
I am no expert on the fiscal state of the knowledge center or the Joe Crowley Student Union. But I think any financially-conscious person would cringe too at the wasted energy and man hours that are going into the student union.
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November 25th, 2008 at 6:14 am
Good point… Now, I wonder if they can build a Starbucks in the new library. That would be sweet. Or another place to grab coffee.
(I’m a UNR student studying abroad, so I’m not sure if they have a coffee place inside the library since I haven’t seen it in person yet.)
November 25th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Agreed! There is nothing in the union (that stays open past 9pm) that you can’t find in the library. Now that they have a coffee place, you too can now study late with an unimaginable amount of resources with your caffine fix. The union is only good for group meetings and 24 study hall. Close the Joe early– 10pm works for me– and keep the knowledge center open until 1am. There’s plenty of study areas and ten times the amount of computers in the library (and books, books, books, books) You’re right the staff always looks bored sitting at the computer watching movies- I’m sure they want to go home, too!!
November 25th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
The only problem with that plan is that there are a lot of clubs like InterVarsity, CCN, 9:25 and the ilk that depend on the meeting rooms in the Joe for their regularly scheduled meetings and special events, many of which extend until past 9:00. The last time that I checked, the students are paying a student union fee for the construction of the union, on top of the other fees that are received for it, that aren’t covered by state funds. I don’t think that changing the closing hours will really make that big of a difference in UNR’s budget. What will make a change is if UNR was able to receive more of the out of state tuiton monies that are received versus giving them back to the state as is currently done now.
November 27th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
David, you should talk to someone who knows a little about budgets and this financial crisis we are in. Thanks for the disclaimer on your ignorance though, very humble. The money spent to keep the union is in a different account from the money spent to keep the library open. The Union would actually be making a profit if Chuck Price was actually a good administrator he wouldn’t need to come to ASUN requesting a loan to keep the union in the black. The real issue here is Chuck Price. His mismanagement of the union prevents it from not being a burden on the university, I really hope the ASUN senate issue a resolution calling for the firing of him instead of votes of no confidence against Gov. Jim Gibbons.
November 29th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
David, closing the Joe for those few hours wouldn’t net a worthwhile amount of saved money in utilities especially since the building goes on a low power status (lights off, locked down areas, etc.) after a certain time of day anyway. Also, like Bryce said, many clubs (including this newspaper) and ASUN operate late into the morning hours, so I could see the storm of people who might complain about closing early.
Others prefer the furniture and quiet study of the Joe.
Tim, I’m not sure but I don’t think a student union is built for profit, it should just be breaking even. An ASUN resolution to fire Chuck Price is laughable and rude at best.
Furthermore, powering down the entire university over the winter break will only save tens of thousands and that just means turning off lights. There’s a lot of faculty and adminstrators who work all winter break and tons of research that requires power. The money is mostly negligible and the power down is impractical. We need larger fiscal reform throughout the state, not just new hours and “turn off your lights” campaigns.
November 29th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Higdon - How do you think the millions are saved? By cutting the small things. Keep the auto-on lights off unless the building is in use over christmas break. The fact that the lights in the bookstore were initially built to not turn off, ever, with the premise of the JCSU being ‘green’ is laughable at best. The concept of going green is novel, but the practicality of it in execution has been between ‘bad’ and ‘terrible.’