Opinion: Get with the times Massey, give us study centres (plz)
Massey needs better study centres. Or fuck, a study centre at all. A place to do work outside of the confines of a university library. Libraries are awkward and rigid, languishing with questions such as: can I eat in here? Can I talk in here? Where can I grab a coffee? Other current study options include staying at home (great for watching TikTok for five hours, terrible for anything else) or a cafe (expensive, still expected to leave after an hour, asking for a WiFi password makes me want to wither up and die). But a study centre…well let me tell you a story, folks.
I studied at Otago University and, deep in the throes of beer bottles and bongs, lives a living, breathing legend: The Marsh Study Centre. The Marsh used to be an iconic scarfie bar before the University bought it up (which is an opinion piece for another day, oh boy) but my God, she’s a thing of beauty. Picture this: a cafe, a convenience store and study space all in one. Quiet study upstairs, social study downstairs. Beautiful windows overlooking gardens. The Marsh is a destination, a day affair. You can eat, chat with friends, do some work. There’s no pressure to buy anything, but you can if you want to. Simply, it is the Eden of tertiary life. The Marsh also isn’t right in the campus, rather it’s in a suburb where students actually live. You don’t have to make the horrendous trek into uni, the Marsh is close and convenient to cater to your every desire.
Think about it: study centres make perfect sense, especially since Massey likes to position their campuses in weird, far-off spaces away from where students actually live. Yes, we get it, you were once a chicken farm! Great, but now you’re a university, okay? If you live in Auckland city, you wouldn’t have to commute for an hour to Albany, you can just spend a day in a study centre. Same goes for Wellington, or Manawatū. Distance students can study outside of their house! Seize the motherfucking day, socialise, procrastinate, I don’t care.
Study spaces are cheap because they don’t need to be big. They don’t need to be built on often-expensive university land. Just buy some random houses in the suburbs and deck it out with some tables and chairs, maybe sofas if you’re really feeling fancy (but it’s Massey, so probably not). Have a study space out in Dunedin! In Christchurch! Christ, even go to Invercargill if you want.
Now, more than ever, in an age of digital learning, the need to actually go into campus is diminishing. Thanks to Digital Plus (which no-one was actually consulted on, cheers Massey), more and more classes are becoming, well, digital. This doesn’t mean that students actually want to be stuck at home though, apart from when it’s really delightfully rainy. Let students study in nice settings, close to home or, at the very least, close to better food options than whatever shit they’re serving on campus. Let students make friends or write an essay whilst dramatically sipping coffee and staring outside of a window. Let students be students.
In the meantime, if you’re ever in Dunedin, check out the Marsh. Check out the dream. That could be us, Massey, but you playin’.