Armstrong to open 24 hours for finals week

Armstrong Student Center and Pulley Diner will remain open for 24 hours a day during finals week.

They will open at 6:30 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 6 at 6:30 a.m. and stay open until 8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 13.

Katie Wilson, director of Armstrong, said the decision was based on the number of students who have used the building overnight during past finals weeks.

On average, 116 students used Armstrong from 2 - 6 a.m. last year throughout finals week. The average for the rest of the fall 2018 semester during those hours was 12 students per night.

“We know that students live their lives differently during finals week,” Wilson said. “A lot of students stay up later and get up earlier to make sure that they’re ready for their exams, and we thought that … we could help contribute to [students’ academic success] in this way.”

This decision was pushed for by the Armstrong Student Center Board, which is a group of students involved in the decision-making process of the building.

“As soon as we knew about the change in hours, we knew we had to think about finals and how the new hours schedule would impact students during finals,” said the board’s chair, Megan Creamer.

A full-time staff member will be in the building all night. Student employees were also given the option to work, and Pulley will have an assistant manager and other employees in the building as well.

Wilson said while they can stay open 24 hours during finals week, it isn’t sustainable year-round. Armstrong still doesn’t have enough staffing, and she said it’s not safe for one person to be there alone late at night when the building is so empty.

They will consider continuing the late night hours for future finals weeks, though.

“We’ll see how it goes and hope that we’ll be able to maintain it and that it’s popular enough that people come and use it,” Wilson said.

@racheldberry