Since the Fall Term, Silent has experienced an increase in occupancy, resulting in one of the rule changes.
During Fall Term Finals Week, the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library (OWHL) more strongly enforced two rules, closing the basement study rooms temporarily and enforcing a policy prohibiting students from reserving seats in the Garver Room (Silent). The stronger rules were a direct response to food and broken glass that had been left in a study room and the overflow of students reserving seats in Silent, which caused others unable to find a spot in the space.
Camille Torres Hoven, Director of the OWHL, noted that no rules had changed. Instead, the library is implementing directives listed on the OWHL’s website more strongly than before.
“I just want to emphasize that they’re not changes, it’s stronger enforcement… and the reason we did them is because the behavior was a little out of control during Finals week. It was very disrespectful, not only to the library team who were scrubbing [study room] floors and vacuuming, and it was disrespectful to the cleaning crew. If 37 seats [in Silent] are being reserved and not used, I have a duty to provide equal access.”
Torres Hoven also highlighted how the OWHL had relaxed their rules over the years to better align with how students want to use the space. Despite the campus space having evolved as a place for socializing, Torres Hoven emphasized the necessity for a certain baseline of boundaries and regulations.
“There are so many rules that we have taken away over the years. There used to be no food at all. During [Finals Week] all the library was quiet. So we have actually pulled back on a lot of rules because we recognize that this is a social space, too. I think we’re trying to do kind of a mediation… We’ve really tried to give students their own autonomy and space here, but we can’t let this place become infested or unsafe, in the case of the broken glass, and have unequal access to the space,” said Torres Hoven.
In response to the state of the basement study room, Sam Clare ’25 pointed out the patterns of mishandling and lack of awareness towards community spaces over the years. Clare draws attention to greater awareness of the work that goes on behind the scenes to keep campus in good condition.
“There’s a lot of mistreatment of spaces on campus in general, so it doesn’t shock me at all that people mistreat the basement study spaces. It’s something that bothers me a lot. I think a lot of Andover students forget that when we leave messes behind, they don’t magically disappear. People clean up after [us]. Cleaning crews come through and clean up,” said Clare.
Gentry Thatcher ’27 acknowledged how the closing of basement study rooms disadvantaged several students who respected the cleanliness of the premises. The basement rooms are popular workplaces for group projects, and blocking them during a time as stressful as Finals Week resulted in fewer collaborative spaces.
“I think shutting [the basement study rooms] down is fine because of the stuff that was on the floor, but I think during Finals Week is a tough time to do it,” said Thatcher. “I would say maybe it would have made more sense to shut down that specific room because that was what needed to be cleaned. I think it was a space that needed to be utilized for final projects… because if you were working on a project they shut off a space that a lot of people needed to use.”
Kelvin Ma ’27 added that Silent and the library basement are not the only study spaces on campus. Ma listed many other spaces on campus, such as the Addison Art Gallery of American Art, Pan Athletic Center, George Washington Hall, and Snyder Center, that students could use as well, and noted that there was room for people to be more creative with where they worked.
“I think that people using Silent might be a problem, but if everyone kind of scatters across campus to find their own place that they can work with, that would be a much easier solution than [putting] any rules on the people in the basement or Silent,” said Ma.
