After months of discussion with the University, numerous student testimonials and a University-wide survey, ASSU Senators Ivy Chen ’26 and Gordon Allen ’26 successfully extended Green Library’s hours for the next 3 years.
The Undergraduate Senate (UGS) and Graduate Student Council (GSC) both passed resolutions in support of extended library hours in February, before receiving notification of administration approval via email in late March, Chen said.
The new hours of Green Library will be 24 hours a day from Sunday to Thursday for the first eight weeks of the quarter. For weeks 9, 10 and finals week, it will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The original intention of Chen and Allen’s initiative was to “extend the entirety of Green’s library hours,” Chen said. However, due to concerns around budget and security, the extended hours will only apply to the East Wing’s Hohbach Hall.
The logistics behind extending the hours will start this spring, with the new schedules in place during autumn quarter of the 2024-25 school year, according to the senators.
The process to extend the library’s hours will include renovations for increased security, Chen said. Additionally, more tables, chairs and other amenities will be added to increase the capacity of Hohbach Hall.
Allen told The Daily that there are also plans to hire full time staff, based on concerns from the GSC and social media platform Fizz that “staff are already overworked” and the hopes of ensuring that “they’re compensated well,” Allen said.
“Part of that process is hiring someone on a salary, and it’s a full time position with benefits. That way, we are respecting our workers, and making sure that we are honoring contracts, our custodial staff and [the Department of Public Safety] for security,” Allen said.
The process of passing this resolution was lengthy, beginning in September.
Chen became passionate about extending Green Library hours because she felt that the original hours, especially on the weekends, were “absurd” and didn’t “align well with student needs.”
Stanford students expressed similar feelings in their response to an ASSU survey emailed to both undergraduate and graduate students in November, which received 1251 student responses. A clear majority of students indicated on the survey that they would be satisfied if Green Library adopted a 24-hour schedule.
Over the past 6 months, Chen and Gordon met with provost Jenny Martinez and Michael Keller, who directs Academic Information Resources, many times to advocate for their initiative and make it a priority within the University’s budget.
Over 300 students who completed the survey expressed willingness to provide testimonials for a meeting with the provost on Jan. 19 regarding why students need Green Library hours extended. Several student written testimonies were presented to Martinez and Keller during the budget hearing.
“Honestly, money is a big issue on this campus if you want to get things done. That’s an obstacle we face,” Chen said. “I’m sure that we’re gonna continue facing these obstacles when doing more initiatives in the future. It’s always related to money.”
Martinez approved the Green Library hours for the next three years. Decisions on ongoing and future funding of this initiative will be influenced by student usage of the extended hours.