While finals week is normally a time to party with friends, get extra sleep, and look for excuses to procrastinate, these students decided to use their time differently by occupying the Garbridge University Library. “Part of the college experience is showing solidarity with those who are oppressed,” said a university junior who asked not to be named. “We decided that the best way to do that was to get good grades and not waste our parents’ money.”
The movement, dubbed “Study in Solidarity,” has transformed the library’s 24-hour study room into what participants call a “radical space of knowledge production.”
“By engaging in focused academic labor during a period traditionally reserved for sleeping, we’re decolonizing the finals week paradigm,” explained Sarah Chen-Martinez, a senior majoring in Comparative Critical Theory. “It’s about dismantling the binary between activism and academics.”
University administration has expressed confusion about how to respond. “Usually we have to deal with sit-ins or demonstrations,” said Librarian Patricia Morrison. “We’re not quite sure how to handle students protesting by doing what they’re supposed to be doing.”
The movement has inspired similar actions at other universities, with hashtags like #StudyingIsResistance and #DecolonizeFinals trending on social media.