The E.H. Butler Library is the one place we as students are supposed to have to shelter us from the endless distractions and noise that can be today’s college experience. In the Union, we’re bombarded with advertisements on flat screens. Companies come to offer us credit cards and class rings.  More and more the library is starting to look and sound like the Student Union.

The construction in the library is extremely disruptive and a nuisance, and the timing of it couldn’t be any worse. In between semesters, when there are far fewer students, would have been preferable to now.

During the day it is hard enough to find a computer to work at. Power tools and hammers echo throughout the library. The floor literally shakes. The worker singing along to Nirvana’s “All Apologies” has a beautiful voice, but it is distracting to those trying to find solace and quiet study in the library.

All of this for an Argo Tea?  Practically every building has a coffee shop. The Union has two. The powers that be don’t want us to have to walk more than 10 feet to get a $5 coffee.

I guess that’s what progress means at Buffalo State. Books and food don’t mix. Every door has a sign restricting food and drinks to the lobby of the library. Those will have to come down. The school’s quest to gouge students out of more of our money is greater than their desire for us to have a quiet, distraction-free place of study. Got a midterm essay you need to finish? Hope the metal grinder doesn’t break your focus. Got a paper due? Don’t worry; you can finish it between the blasts of the power drill.

This renovation isn’t needed and it is occurring at the worst possible time.

James Lewis

History major