MINARET UNIVERSITY OF TAMPA’S NEWS SOURCE SINCE 1933
THE Vo l u m e
79
Number
7
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October
11 ,
2012
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ut.minaret@gmail.com
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theminaretonline.com
Animal Instincts Influence Housing Decisions Some students move off campus simply to be with pets
By ANNA WESTERHOLM
Contributor
The first thing you see when you walk into UT junior Siarra Sherako’s apartment down S Boulevard is a flight of steep stairs and her kitten, Cobain, moseying down to greet whoever comes through the door. More often than not, Cobain is accompanied by his best friend Stella, a 3year-old dog owned by Stevi Hemingway, sophomore at UT. The relationship between Cobain, a smaller sized cat with twirls of gray and black fur with one white patch on his back, and Stella, a lab mix with bright orange hair and a pink nose, is a perfect contradiction as they get along wonderfully without barking or hissing at each other. Both Sherako and Hemingway live off campus for the same reason: UT has no pet-friendly dorms, and they wanted to live with their animals. With more buzz than ever, UT students feel their need for animal companionship is more and more important as the number of students who move off campus in order to have a pet grows. Sherako said, “My friend Meg B. moved off campus last semester to have her two dogs with her. Noah J. also has
Photo courtesy of Stevi Hemingway
Stevi Hemingway moved off campus to live with her dog, Stella, as pets are prohibited on campus.
two dogs and moved off campus to have them come stay this semester, and Brenna M. moved off campus to get a cat, too. It’s really something that a lot of my friends are doing right now.” Colin Souza, sophomore at UT, said, “This semester I moved off campus so
I could have my dog, Marley with me. She’s four months old and she makes me so happy. Sometimes I feel like I am taking care of a child, but I like the extra responsibility. Because I am in charge of someone else’s well being, I am a lot more attentive than I would be to something
nonliving.” Although pets are not allowed to live with students on campus, people have gotten away with it. Sherako said, “My old roommate had a cat on campus and never got caught, then she moved off campus this semester, also. I had a leopard gecko two years ago and I never got caught. It was an easy pet and did not take up much space.” Souza added, “My old roommate’s ex girlfriend had a dog she would always bring around. When she had to go to class, my roommate would watch the dog. When he had class, he’d leave the dog with me or one of his friends. Sometimes she brought her dog to class because he was that well trained not to make any noise when he was in her purse. It was ridiculous. I couldn’t believe she got away with living with that dog in her dorm room for an entire semester. She was never bothered or asked about it.” Students may get away with hiding a pet, but if you are caught, Amanda Adas, area coordinator for the office of Res Life, said, “If a student does not abide by the University of Tampa’s pet policy, the
See PETS, Page 4
SG Proposes Trial to Extend Library Hours This Month
By CAROLINE METELL
hours, but Marlyn Pethe, director of the Macdonald-Kelce Library, thinks this Midterms usually call for extra time around will be more successful. “This time I think will go really studying. This semester, students will have extra access to the library, as the well because [the extensions] go over hours will be extended for a period midterms so that’s obviously a time of time, after Student Government where students are very interested in proposed the idea. In previous trials, staying later, so we’ll see how the the library did not have a high numbers go,” she said. The new hours are already proving attendance rate for the early morning to be effective. The staff counted about 70 people using the services at around 1:30 a.m on Monday. Junior criminology major Bre Wright thinks the extended weekend hours could be good for students. “I guess it’s better on Sunday that you can go from 10-2 because most people do their work on Sundays.” With the extended Samantha Battersby/The Minaret hours, students think the Students utilize the trial period of extended library hours. University of Tampa could
News Writer
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match other schools in their library services. Senior pre-med major Alfonso Heredia said, “I think it is very useful to have the library open for that long. Any serious institution would have after midnight hours available, especially during finals and midterms.” “I think that it’s a great idea. Most other universities I know of have libraries open until at least 2 a.m., and a couple have 24-hour study rooms. It’s great for people who have late class until 10 p.m.,” senior biopsychology major Emily Lucero added. Pethe is happy to extend the hours, in order to support students’ studies. “We’re a service organization. I don’t think there’s anybody on campus who wouldn’t want to add to the academic success of the students, and we’re a big part of that. I’m thrilled to see the [extra hours] being used.” But even if these extended hours solve one problem, it might not help the bigger picture: the library’s size.
Some students feel that it doesn’t matter how long the library is open, if there isn’t sufficient room. Wright thinks the size of the library is an issue. “You have to have a bigger library if you’re going to increase the size of your student population,” she said. “Because you can’t have a two-story library and have all these freshmen, and obviously all these juniors and seniors, who are doing proposals and research articles, that need to be in the library, there’s not enough room.” If the extended hours are a success, there will have to be some budget planning if students and staff wish to keep them full time. The hours will be from Oct. 8-21. Sunday through Wednesday it will be open until 2 a.m., with Sundays also opening at 10 a.m., and Friday it will close at 9 p.m. The Thursday hours were not changed. Caroline Metell can be reached at cmetell@spartans.ut.edu
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