USU Library Hours Spring Break

USU Library Hours Spring Break

Each fall and spring, A-team members usher prospective students around campus in an attempt to get them excited about the things USU is known for, like its ice cream, its mass kissing under full moons, and the wildest Halloween party in the state. A group of self-proclaimed visionaries, however, want to add another tradition to the list of what it means to be an Aggie, known as the finals week howl.

The would-be tradition involves howling on a given day during finals week for a period of 10 minutes. Having occurred twice, once during finals week of Spring Semester 2006 and most recently on Dec. 13, 2006, the event has been met with opposition as so-called “howlers” choose to yell in a controversial location, the Merrill-Caizier Library.

Sources report anywhere from three to 200 people participated in December’s incident by howling loudly from the upper floors of the library’s atrium beginning at 10 p.m. Wednesday. Night Supervisor Holly Swenson made an announcement over the library’s intercom system requesting that the disruption stop. When it persisted, the campus police were notified.

Two participants, who prefer not to be named, said the event is a unifying way for students to relieve anxiety during what many consider the most tense week of the year.

“I see my brothers and sisters at Utah State so antsy, so anxious… so stressed and what a better thing to do than howl to let that stress go,” one participant said. “The common good of the howl is stress relief.”

Associate Director for Public Services at the Merrill-Cazier Library, John Elsweiler, said the library administration understands that students might want to relieve stress by yelling during finals week, but said the library is not the place to do it.

“If you want to you can go outside and howl all you want,” he said.

The library was selected as the location for the howling because it’s where most students are during finals week and where the atmosphere is the most tense, participants said.

“This is good clean fun. It’s not hurting anybody,” one participant said.

But the concern is the distruption will hurt people academically, Lieuenant Shane Sessions of the USU Police said.

The library is a learning environment, and the librarians and police are “trying to ensure that USU students have the best academic success they can,” Sessions said.

The effect of the 10-minute disruption could be so great as to make it so students couldn’t focus on studying and consequently do poorly on their finals, he said.

“Who knows whose grades are on the line, or who has a test at 7:30 in the morning,” librarian Holly Swenson said.

Liz Brisolara, a junior majoring in biology, said she was cramming for an anatomy test in a group study room when people started howling. She and her group had received a flyer explaining the howl about 10 minutes before it began but said she walked out to the atrium to see what was going on.

As for the effect it had on her, Brisolara said she thought it was a nice reprieve to her studying and one that would help her be able to concentrate for a few more hours.

“It’s helping me relax,” she said.

Peter Timmons, a junior majoring in English, was working at the circulation desk the night of the December incident. He said he understood how some people found it funny but thought the event was inappropriate. He said he wouldn’t have participated even if he wasn’t working that night.

“I’m an English major. I have to respect libraries,” he said.

What was viewed by some as a funny event and by others as an annoying disruption could have major consequences, Sessions said.

Campus police “educated” three individuals concerning library policy when they responded to the December incident but said criminal action could be taken against future participants. Charges like disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct, failure to obey university authority and trespassing could be brought against howling students, he said.

Sessions said they are also looking into academic consequences for students who continue to violate library police such as suspension and expulsion.

“There are other avenues beside criminal action,” he said.

One “howler” said he’s attending UtSU because he loves it and his participation in December’s incident wasn’t an act of defiance or rebellion.

“I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with what we’re doing. We’re not trespassing. I can be in the library because I pay student fees. We’re not doing disorderly conduct because no one is being disrupted. No one is complaining about it other than the librarians. I definitely don’t want to get arrested. I don’t want to be suspended from school. I love school…I wouldn’t want to put that at risk,” he said.

While the viability of this particular practice remains debated, “howlers” and library administrators agree that ASUSU should sponsor a stress-relieving event where students can take a break.

“I’d rather see ASUSU do something bigger,” Elsweiler said.

Participants, however, would like to see the custom officially adopted and sponsored by the university as an endorsed tradition which would make it legal and easier to regulate. They said that many great traditions were frowned upon at some point in USU’s history but that shouldn’t stop this one from continuing.

“Think about the first time someone made out on the A. I would bet that some people thought that that was kind of weird – maybe inappropriate… But now look what it’s turned into. It’s a huge tradition. It’s a part of Utah State,” one participant said.

Whether the activity will continue or fizzle out remains to be seen. Library administrators said they don’t know when or if the howling will persist but said they will prepare in advance by notifying the campus police on the first day of finals this semester.

According to some students, however, the making of a new tradition is a done deal.

“It’s officially a tradition now,” Brisolra said.