Butler University’s buildings and facilities are notorious for having their doors locked early.

Students looking for a place to exercise, study, or hang out on campus past 10:30 or 11 p.m. will be hard-pressed to find a place outside student housing to suit their needs.

While appropriate for a suburban town, this curfew does not realistically fit the average student’s lifestyle.

Butler students spend most of their weekdays in classes.

Then students participate in extracurricular activities for a majority of the early evenings.

This leaves them solely with the evening to complete all of their studies, exercise, or eat at times that better fit their schedule.

Most academic buildings close around 10 p.m., and if Butler University Police Department has its way, these buildings—Jordan Hall, Gallahue Hall, Lilly Hall and the Pharmacy and Health Sciences Building—will close at 9 p.m.

Although this early curfew prevents trespassers from entering buildings, it barricades students from utilizing the study spaces available in these buildings.

For a university that touts its academic credentials as much as Butler, the lack of much-needed access to Butler’s study rooms is ironic.

Also, the early closing times of the HRC and dining halls ignore students’ hectic lifestyles.

Many students simply do not have the time during the daylight and early evening to exercise and eat within the allotted time periods.

The curfew not only fails to acknowledge student schedules, it also doesn’t make sense ecologically.

Despite being closed down, all these inaccessible buildings still leave a good portion of their lights on.

This complete waste of energy is inexcusable since no one can access the buildings or rooms.

If Butler is going to expend the energy to leave these buildings’ lights running, then the buildings might as well remain open so the students can utilize them.

Some might argue that this would require an increased workforce to maintain the facilities, making the extended curfew not worth the effort.

However, some students already work late night shifts at the front desks for all the residence halls and apartment complexes on campus.

Also, as mentioned earlier, many students already stay awake late—so an evening shift isn’t too much of a stretch.

Considering the current faltering job climate, plenty of people off-campus would likely be willing to work these shifts for a wage.

These staffers could work “front desk” positions at each of these buildings and make sure no one abuses the privilege of using the buildings late at night.

A sizable workforce is available to staff these typically undesirable graveyard shifts.

Basically, Butler needs to find ways to extend the amount of time before curfew begins instead of seeking to further clamp down on students’ ability to move around campus at night.

Students do not only consider this campus a school, they also embrace it as their home.  And students deserve to be able to fully utilize the buildings their tuition goes toward.

Administrators and public safety officials should realize this and allow students to access all parts of their home as needed and without such tight restrictions.