The Red and Black

Issue date: 8/19/08 Section: News

Media Credit: FILE PHOTO Beginning this semester, the SLC is no longer open 24 hours a day. Due to budget cuts, the University was forced to scale back costs in order to keep from eliminating faculty positions. [Click to enlarge]

Lights will be out in the Student Learning Center by 2 a.m., ending the building's 24-hour schedule.

The University was forced to cut back hours at the SLC due to budget cuts, Tom Jackson, vice president for public affairs, said Monday in a phone interview.

"It's one of the many impacts we're going to feel from the state budget reductions," Jackson said. "We have to cut back on staff costs, electricity and this."

The SLC's hours scheduled for Monday through Nov. 30 are Monday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 2 a.m., Friday 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., according to the SLC's Web site.

If the SLC remained open 24 hours a day, the University may have had to eliminate faculty members, and that was something the administration tried to avoid, Student Government Association President Connor McCarthy said.

SGA and the administration had lengthy discussions on other alternatives, but due to the state's economic conditions, the school budget is decreasing as well, McCarthy said.

"The expected return for the month of July was roughly 3.3 percent and the state budget was 6 percent, so the funding has decreased a lot," he said.

McCarthy said he plans to meet with William Potter, associate provost of the library, to discuss low cost options and alternatives.

The administration is aware this is important, he said, and it wants to continue to have a strong academic environment.

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