The EMU is expanding its 24/7 finals week hours to include the two weeks before the end of the winter term, a test by the EMU administration to see if enough students would use the EMU during those hours.
University of Oregon students have always asked for the EMU to have longer hours during exam season, according to EMU Director Laurie Woodward; however, the issue with having the EMU open 24/7 is if its worth it to pay EMU staff and security to work those odd hours, including weekends.
“We would love to do that,” Woodward said, “but we don’t think it’s cost effective to do that. And for security reasons, I don’t want to just leave the building open.”
Only UO students will be able to access the EMU during its late-night hours. Past regular hours, the EMU will be closed to the public, and students will need to swipe their ID card to access the building.
Only the new part of the EMU, the part built in 2014, will be open. This includes the ground floor, but not the first floor, which includes Panda Express and Starbucks.
The EMU will decide whether or not to expand hours for future exam seasons depending on the number of students who utilize these hours. Right now, the EMU is funding the expenses of its new hours with extra revenue that it got this year from its vendors.
“If students demand more hours, we’ll try to find ways to fund it,” Woodward said. “But for right now, I think it’s important just to be able to allow students to study later.”
The cost of the building’s utilities, such as lighting and heating and cooling, is negligible relative to the EMU’s other expenses. Utilities also aren’t under “heavy-duty usage” late at night, when few students are inside the building and when vendors such as Panda Express and Joe’s Burgers are closed. This is partly because the EMU uses LED lights and a highly efficient heating and cooling system, all of which the EMU uses at a consistent amount.