If you go to the Washington University website and click on the tab marked “Campus Experience,” you will be directed to a page with a sub-header titled “What to do on Campus.” From there, clicking on the “Dining” button will take you to a list of all the campus eateries, with Whispers Cafe listed all by itself at the very bottom. On the Whispers Cafe page, the currently closed locale is described as “a tranquil atmosphere for relaxing or studying at any time of the day.” Take one look at the pit where Whispers used to be located or listen to the jackhammers pulverize the unexpected sheet of bedrock and you will realize that Whispers is no longer a “tranquil” place to study.

The loss of Whispers Cafe as a study spot for the student body cannot be overstated. Following its hollowing out, there is now no place to get coffee on Danforth Campus after 9 p.m., no oasis within Olin Library to take a break mid-all nighter and no early morning stop-and-go for students who live off campus or out of the way from the South 40 or the Village.

While the University has taken small steps to remedy the situation, for example by offering coffee in Ibby’s at night, one of the more obvious solutions has been overlooked. Ursa’s, the underutilized event space and former late night eatery, would have been the perfect solution—location notwithstanding—to this problem.

Currently, a petition on Change.org is circulating amongst the student body, urging the University and Danforth University Center Event Management to re-open Ursa’s for studying as the space is only used currently for events. Before this year, Ursa’s was open until midnight every night and students could always be found there doing work or playing games and hanging out. Due to a change of management, the space has been limited to just events and students are down two important study spaces.

While we wish the University had re-opened Ursa’s sooner, our editorial board sees re-opening and providing a budget as the only logical choice with finals on the horizon.

Additionally, we feel that the University should strongly consider bringing late night food options to Ursa’s or to another location on campus—such as Stanley’s or Holmes Lounge or the Bauer Hall Cafe—to further compensate for the continued inaccessibility of Whispers. Offering coffee in Ibby’s until 9 p.m. is an appreciated gesture, but so many students do work far later into the night and would appreciate a venue to facilitate snacking during that time. Many students prefer tea at night or juice or any other easier to digest beverage, but have little access to such options when they are doing work later in the evening.

As of publication, 153 students have signed the petition to reopen Ursa’s for studying. The University should listen to that expression of student voice and should take steps to amend other changes that have affected student study habits as well.