Editorial: Later labs

Despite the addition of a host of cutting-edge research facilities, budget constraints will permit the new $100 million, 162,000-square-foot French Science Center to contain only 20,000 square feet of teaching lab space. As a result, science departments may institute weekend and evening lab sections to accommodate any future increases in demand for lab space. These additional sections, if instituted properly, will provide significant benefits to students.

An increase in the number of available labs and a variety of different times at which these labs are scheduled will improve student scheduling flexibility. Labs, the duration of which often exceeds four hours, often interfere with students' other academic and extracurricular activities. If, as the science departments promise, no current daytime labs slots are eliminated when evening labs are instituted, the combination of existing labs and evening sections would allow students to choose the best time based on their own schedule.

However, the administration must address several social and safety concerns in order for these new lab times to be successful. First, weekend labs should not be implemented. A vast majority of students would rightly consider a four-hour lab on a Saturday or Sunday a violation of their free time. Similarly, Thursday and Friday evening labs should not be implemented, since many students use these nights as a time to rest, meet with friends or participate in non-academic activities.

The University must also address safety concerns accompanying evening labs. With evening labs, the University must schedule frequent buses between East Campus and Science Drive - since the majority of students enrolled in these labs will be freshmen - and dramatically improve lighting in the area. Students should not have to sacrifice their safety for the sake of convenience, and the University should not make hordes of freshmen trudge halfway across campus every evening.

While the lack of funding to include sufficient teaching lab space in the new building is regrettable, the addition of evening lab sections in coming years is a reasonable remedy to this problem and will allow for the expansion of science labs. It is essential, however, that officials consult undergraduate students before implementing these changes, and do not force students to enroll in lab sections that will significantly hamper their other commitments.