Petitions

[Broken Parachute]

Has anyone written one before? I'm attempting to write one for an issue on my campus, but I don't want to screw this up...so I want to do it in the proper fashion. Any help I can get is much appreciated.

[loveisdead]

Wish I could be more of a help. I don't know the first thing about it.

[loveisdead]

Oh. And what are you petitioning?

[Broken Parachute]

It's a somewhat trivial issue, but one that is pretty vital to student life on campus. It's about the new library hours. We used to have our library open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week, 7am until midnight on Saturdays, 7am until Friday night staring on Sundays. Now they're changing the library hours to 7am until 11 pm on weekdays and 9am until 5pm on Saturdays. Seems silly, but in the long run it actually disrupts the typical flow of campus life. I know a lot of people including myself who like to work in the library until 3am or 4am...especially kids who have late classes and don't mind staying up early into the morning hours. It was a fantastic system. Also, we had library printers available the entire time. Now the printers are shut down too, so if you don't have a place to do work/have study sessions after 11pm or you need to print something, you're screwed.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=181734779030#!/group.php?gid=149097045115561&ref=mf

A lot of students are outraged about it, so two other students and myself are going to petition. I've already called my contacts at the school paper (I write for the paper but for the sports section so I needed a news person) and they're writing up an article. I've contacted College Republicans/Democrats and other clubs/societies to see how much public opinion I can get on my side. My final step will be to draft a petition, which I need help with since I want to make this formal and professional.

[perceptrons]

Not to derail, but I just wondered, do you guys have to pay for printing?

[Broken Parachute]

Do you guys have to pay for printing?We just started. That's another rule they threw in last year. It used to be free printing, now it's 10 cents per printed paper and we are given an allotted amount of free prints before we have to start paying.

[loveisdead]

Good for you man. Glad you're passionate enough about the welfare of your peers to take action.

[Broken Parachute]

It's odd because I never get this worked up over something, but when I got this email it just infuriated me. It's such a dumb thing to cut back on because of budgetary issues. This school (I'm a Junior at Seton Hall, by the way) wastes so much money on things. I can't imagine how much it could cost them to keep the library open past 11pm.

[loveisdead]

It's odd because I never get this worked up over something, but when I got this email it just infuriated me. It's such a dumb thing to cut back on because of budgetary issues. This school (I'm a Junior at Seton Hall, by the way) wastes so much money on things. I can't imagine how much it could cost them to keep the library open past 11pm.
My school's library was 24/7. And there were always people in there no matter the time. The only thing that was a bummer was the Mac lab closed at midnight and all the broadcast/production majors needed it later than that sometimes.

[Debut_Fin]

It's odd because I never get this worked up over something, but when I got this email it just infuriated me. It's such a dumb thing to cut back on because of budgetary issues. This school (I'm a Junior at Seton Hall, by the way) wastes so much money on things. I can't imagine how much it could cost them to keep the library open past 11pm.

I'm really sorry to hear that. When I visited Seton Hall I basically felt like I had to drive through the ghetto to get there

but at TCNJ they just changed our printing system and it sounds similar to yours

[Broken Parachute]

I'm really sorry to hear that. When I visited Seton Hall I basically felt like I had to drive through the ghetto to get there

but at TCNJ they just changed our printing system and it sounds similar to yoursYeah, you must have come through Newark (which is another flaw our school has...their website's directions take you through the ghetto rather than through nicer parts). South Orange is a very nice college town, but Newark and East Orange are just a stone's throw away...which is scary. The campus is completely gated though.

[BornUnderPunches]

Not a sarcastic question here: Do petitions ever work?

[<*)))><]

One of my friends works at the Sacred Heard Library.

[kyle is hk]

I'm really sorry to hear that. When I visited Seton Hall I basically felt like I had to drive through the ghetto to get there

but at TCNJ they just changed our printing system and it sounds similar to yours



TCNJ Representin'. Im glad they changed it this year not last year. I had to print over 600 sheets for a class last year. Although in the end I think it should be cheaper right? We'd likely only spend like 15-20 bucks per semester printing (if you do like 300-400 sheets) instead of whatever they charged us for the print-sense package- right?

[zion the lion]

I dont think petitions really ever work. I mean, the people who changed the hours decided to do so for a reason, I doubt they'd change their minds because of a bunch of names on a petition sheet.

[x togepi x]

Petitions work if they're targeted the right way. If you get enough students, it might change the administration's mind though you are going up against budget cuts. Have you talked to people in student government about it? they're probably going to be pretty good at getting signatures.

chances are nothing will happen but maybe they might make a concession or two.

[Simulcast]

I dont think petitions really ever work. I mean, the people who changed the hours decided to do so for a reason, I doubt they'd change their minds because of a bunch of names on a petition sheet.

I work at a library and, at least in my experience, the administration is very receptive to the needs of its students. User services are a major focus of University Libraries and our library administration goes to great lengths to ensure students have adequate study space and access to the tools they need. I think a petition like this would be very effective.

[zion the lion]

I work at a library and, at least in my experience, the administration is very receptive to the needs of its students. User services are a major focus of University Libraries and our library administration goes to great lengths to ensure students have adequate study space and access to the tools they need. I think a petition like this would be very effective.

It seems like you're going up against budget cuts, think about it, less electricity being used, less employees. They probably thought that there arent that many people in the library at 4 in the morning so why not save some money. As much as anyone wants to please other people, they probably want to save money more.

[Simulcast]

It seems like you're going up against budget cuts, think about it, less electricity being used, less employees. They probably thought that there arent that many people in the library at 4 in the morning so why not save some money. As much as anyone wants to please other people, they probably want to save money more.


That may be the case, but a university's lifeblood is student tuition. Our library faced huge cuts, but actually gave more money to Access services (the division that deals with patrons) and made cuts elsewhere. I'm fairly certain that student ire will go a long way in changing his administration's mind.

[GeeBee]

That may be the case, but a university's lifeblood is student tuition. Our library faced huge cuts, but actually gave more money to Access services (the division that deals with patrons) and made cuts elsewhere. I'm fairly certain that student ire will go a long way in changing his administration's mind.
I've heard private donations were the bulk of University funding (though that may have just been the state university I went to)

[Simulcast]

I've heard private donations were the bulk of University funding (though that may have just been the state university I went to)

That also may be true, but at least with UCSB that money can't just be spent anywhere. It's donated to certain departments and is essentially locked into those areas. Administrative costs are covered by tuition by and large I believe.

Edit: Actually I don't think that's right. Administrative costs are definitely covered by the state. All the same though, a UC that loses students is unlikely to gain more funding from the state.

[GeeBee]

That also may be true, but at least with UCSB that money can't just be spent anywhere. It's donated to certain departments and is essentially locked into those areas. Administrative costs are covered by tuition by and large I believe.

Edit: Actually I don't think that's right. Administrative costs are definitely covered by the state. All the same though, a UC that loses students is unlikely to gain more funding from the state.

Right, if enrollment goes down, I'm sure funding goes down.

[Zeran]

my school's library closes at like midnight and printing costs 15 cents a sheet.

[Scrandon]

If you think about it, the school is really just trying to cut costs anyway they can. If you show them that enough people are upset about this then they will probably look for somewhere else to save money. It's not like they're dead set on closing the library or anything, they probably just thought this would be one of the easiest ways to save money.

[Broken Parachute]

They spent tons of money this summer on new touch screen registers for all of the cafeterias, they built a mini bank in our cafeteria with a brand new ATM machine, they put new trees and landscaping in around campus, they redid the Pirate's Cove which is a lounge in our University Center where we can sit and do work or get all kinds of food and drinks/coffee (that closes at 11 too). They had money and they spent it on a lot of different things. If they are trying to cut corners while spending tons of money on things that were fine the way they were, that's just silly.

[perceptrons]

They spent tons of money this summer on new touch screen registers for all of the cafeterias, they built a mini bank in our cafeteria with a brand new ATM machine, they put new trees and landscaping in around campus, they redid the Pirate's Cove which is a lounge in our University Center where we can sit and do work or get all kinds of food and drinks/coffee (that closes at 11 too). They had money and they spent it on a lot of different things. If they are trying to cut corners while spending tons of money on things that were fine the way they were, that's just silly.
Seriously. My campus just added a new stadium, art center, two dorms, and a couple parking lots at the same time that they starting charging for printing.