When the Marriot Library reopens next month, students will find a portion of it off-limits.
The balcony overlooking Rice-Eccles Stadium was originally planned to be a simple area where students could visit and study. It was to be a cement patio with a railing, and was designed primarily to be just a roof for the Automated Retrieval Center. Following a grant from a private donor, it was upgraded to a garden terrace covered in vegetation.
Unfortunately, students were left out of the upgrade. The terrace will be used exclusively for reserved, scheduled events–students will be barred from the space.
What this says to students is that a cement balcony is fine for their use, but not a garden terrace.
Joseph Harmon, manager of design and construction services for the library, said the terrace wasn’t originally designed as a place for students to walk around trees and enjoy the view. The simple design attests to that. But the improved terrace, having excluded students, isn’t a place where students can walk around or enjoy the view at all. Of all buildings on campus, the library is a student building, and should serve students.
Some have talked about the risk of library patrons using the terrace to steal books and other materials, but it seems simple enough for the library to monitor the terrace exits as they do other library exits.
The university has no shortage of locations to host donors or administrators, but it is short on places for students to gather. It isn’t mutually exclusive for the terrace to host one or the other.
To utilize the terrace only for special events isn’t just a slap in students’ faces, it is also a waste of space. The U should instead open the terrace for students to gather and close it for scheduled events.