By David Oberman

When I arrived at Fordham this past fall as a transfer student from Southern Methodist University,  I expected things to be very different. At orientation, it was made clear to me that Fordham is in an ascendancy stage. A new business school with a prestigious name, a new football coach and a sense among the students that convinced me now is the right time to be at Fordham.

I did not expect such antiquarian viewpoints on the way the administration treats the library. The lack of a 24-hour study space at the library and not allowing coffee are detrimental to advancing policies towards advancing Fordham’s rankings.

According to the U.S. News and World Report, every single university has a 24-hour study section in its library. Many universities do not have libraries that are open all hours. Most universities, at least among the top thirty in the country, have libraries which are open all day Sunday through Friday. On Friday, most universities tend to close their library somewhere between 8 p.m.. and 10 p.m. and on Saturday most Universitiy libraries close around the same time.

The University could easily make the case, however, that it does not want to encourage increasing sleep deprivation among students. According to a study in the “Journal of Adolescent Medicine,” less than 7 percent of college students get the necessary amount of sleep. It seems prudent to say that, unless Fordham requires all students to take 8:30 A.M. classes and still adhere to their stringent attendance policies,  Fordham’s administration has little or no effect on the sleeping habits of its students. Additionally, according to the U.S. News website, 50.8 percent of Fordham students do not live on campus. It would seem prudent to allow these students a study place through the night. If a student is studying until 3 a.m., it would seem ill advised for the University to then kick them out and force them to walk, drive or take transport home. In fact, I am myself a student living off-campus; I have many times myself been forced out at 2 A.M. to head back to my apartment. At my apartment, I am distracted by either my roommates or by the constant car alarms next to Fordham housing at Terra Nova.

This library policy leaves Fordham students with no place to study late into the night. Even if this quiet study place is not in the library but in another building, it would be immensely helpful to students.

“It makes it very inconvenient for students that they need to pack up and leave, it also puts a time limit on when students can work,” Alex Kryvoruka, FCRH ’16 said.

While a few students may not be bothered by the fact that the library has limited hours, I have not met a single student who is not annoyed by the fact that the library prohibits drinks, other than water, in the library. I can understand why the administration would not allow food, because that is how you get ants. Coffee, however, is very beneficial to studying. The lounge area in the library is Fordham’s solution to this problem, but it actually does not help students, because the lounge is often loud. If anything, it makes it even harder for students with coffee, or other study-enhancing beverages, to study.

The goal of the library of a university is to facilitate and encourage a quiet place for students to study. By simply allowing coffee and having a 24 hour section, the University would be making a great step toward helping the Fordham student body.

David Oberman, GSB ’15, is a finance major from Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.