Students are irritated by the closing times of their faculties’ drop in boxes and have complained to the Student Union.
Jack Hammond
The drop in boxes for the faculties of Art, Design and Architecture, Arts and Social Sciences, Business and Law, Health, Social Care, Education and Science, Engineering and Computing are unavailable after their buildings close at 9pm on weekdays and 5.30pm at the weekend. They do not repen until 6am.
Tom Hood, 22, studying sociology with business has been affected by the closing times, “I have in the past completed my work at 11pm, and had to come back the following morning to hand it in, which makes no sense. It’s a hassle for me to wake up early after a late night working in the library to come back to the same building in seven hours’ time so I can put some paper in a box.”
Hardworking nights
It is not uncommon for students working at the University not to finish until the early hours of the morning. This leaves them with the choice of either waiting a few hours for their faculties box to re-open or returning later to submit the copy. Some have complained to the Union.
Lucy Williams, Vice President of the Student Union, said: “A lot of students have part-time jobs, extra curricular commitments and other responsibilities such as children or caring for a family member – not to mention the large percentage of commuter students we have here at KU. All of these factors mean that students really need facilities (including drop boxes) that work around them, rather than the other way around, to make their learning experience as convenient as possible”.
The reason for the closure of the boxes is due to the safety of the campuses. Andrew Morrison, Security Manager for Kingston, said: “We obviously have to lock down the University at some stage during the night and I am sure you can understand this takes a long time in buildings of this size.
“The team begins closing the building off at 9pm, which means some students are unable to reach their faculties’ boxes until the following morning.”
Why not use the library?
Last year Kingston opened certain libraries, such as the one at Penrhyn road, round the clock for students with the use of their ID cards. As it can be accessed at all times many feel the library is the best place to put the drop boxes.
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