Students Demand 24-Hour Library Access
A fight is on for Cohen to be open all day and all nightby Kathleen M. O’Donnell.For freshman Russell Weiss-Irwin, a library that is open 24 hours a day would not just be personally beneficial, but victorious. Weiss-Irwin, along with a band of outspoken members of Students for Educational Rights (SER), have been fighting throughout the semester to gain access to the Cohen Library and City Technology Center 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For good.Operating out of the NAC’s Morales/Shakur Center for over 22 years, SER has been a force to be reckoned with since its inception. In recent years, the self-governed group has been “critical in protecting student benefits,” according to Weiss-Irwin. Free printing and non-reduced activity fees are among the club’s latest accomplishments. When discussing new ideas for student rights, the membership focused on attainable goals, namely the battle to create a 24-hour open policy for the school’s main library. But why?“If anyone needs a 24-hour library, it’s City College Students,” explains Weiss-Irwin. With jobs, internships, families, night classes, long commutes, and never ending piles of work, SER believes it is not fair that students are restricted to the library’s current operating hours and poorly equipped 24-hour study room. Until 10 years ago, the Cohen Library was open continuously and students want that back.Two years ago, the 24-hour finals week opening began. “It’s good because it provides a model for what we’re looking for. We want what we have during finals week all the time,” continues Weiss-Irwin. “The upper floors don’t need to be open, but access to reference materials, computers, and printing is absolutely pivotal to student success, no matter what time of day.”Throughout the semester, SER members and many supportive students partook in “study-ins,” adorning the main floor of the library with posters and refusing to leave until they were kicked out. Met with frustration by CCNY security, students continued their rallies in the 24-hour study room on the first floor of the NAC.“We’re using the format of a petition to build a list of students who want what we want,” states Weiss-Irwin, who has been a member of the SER since his first weeks at CCNY last fall. There is strength in numbers. “One of our challenges is learning how to be focused. It’s important to win things to build power and it’s important to have power to win things.”President Lisa’s recent announcement to extend library hours until midnight on weekdays is evidence that power is building and that SER will win the fight for a 24-hour library in the name of all CCNY students.
