Student Protest Leads to Library Hours Extension

Protesters marched early Friday from the library to Chancellor Marye Anne Fox's front lawn chanting, "No more cuts."

N.C. State student government officials also organized a "Get Out the Vote" rally Tuesday to encourage students to vote against legislators who don't adequately support higher education.

N.C. State administrators said library hours were the last thing to be cut from the budget.

"It seemed logical at the time," said Nancy Vaupel, assistant director for scholarly communication and external relations at D.H. Hill Library.

Fox said the library hours were restored because the administration has a larger say in the recent budget proposal.

"We have been working in a vacuum in terms of a budget," she said. "The main thing was we finally had some influence on what was cut from our budget.

"We were encouraged that the budget in appropriations would give us enough flexibility to restore the 24-hour status of the library."

But Vaupel said there is still no funding that would enable the library to stay open late -- additional staff and security guards are needed to ensure the safety of students.

"We are somehow going to find the money to do this," she said. "Clearly there is going to be some sort of tradeoff.

"The plan was the wish of the student body," she said. "We want to do this. One realizes how important services are when you lose them."

Vaupel said the university and library staff held several meetings to decide on a course of action after the rally early Friday morning.

Administrators concluded that they should restore the library's 24-hour schedule.

"I think (the march) was an inspiration to all of us," she said. "It told us we need to listen closely to the students' needs and double our efforts to meet them."

Jonathan Ducote, president of the UNC-system Association of Student Governments, said N.C. State students have accomplished a great deal.

"It's completely a student victory," he said.

"The legislative budget had already been settled, and the administration kept saying they did this, but the students won this totally by themselves.

"The students at N.C. State mobilized their efforts, made their message clear and they accomplished their goals."

Ducote said he hopes to see similar efforts from the other 15 system schools.

"The worst thing students can do right now is be inactive," he said.

"A lot of the sentiment is felt systemwide. Seeing what happened at N.C. State might spark something at other schools."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.