Exam month isn’t the only time you’ll find students sleeping at Robarts.
Seven Canadian university chapters of DREAM (Discover the Reality of Educating All Minds) are taking part in Live-in for Literacy 2009. From January 16 to 26, two students live in their campus’ main library, sleeping in tents and seeking donations.
Today until 1 p.m., you can see a tent behind the first-floor Robarts Library escalators containing Rebecca Nugent, a fourth-year English student and Christopher Somma, a third-year undergraduate in architectural design.
“It’s been pretty awesome,” Nugent told The Varsity on day five. “Although I expected to study more. Oh, and I just got food poisoning.”
The students are permitted a five-minute break each hour, which can be banked to shower at friends’ houses. For hygiene, the adjacent washrooms are used.
The pair, who has access to a fridge, laptop and microwave, has relied on pre-packaged and take-out food brought in from friends.
The organizatin hopes to raise $40,000 among all 14 participants in order to build nine school libraries in India.
“Other than sleeping with the lights off, I’m looking forward to knowing we’ve made a difference,” said Somma.
This is the fourth year since Live-in for Literacy started at Queen’s University, and the first for U of T. The two hope to raise $5,000 through cash, cheque, and corporate donations.
Although most have been curious and respectful, not all have welcomed the duo.
“The other day someone thought we were funding some sort of terrorist organisation or fake charity,” said Nugent. “Another jumped our barrier and said ‘You smell like sex.’”
A 24-hour webcam is viewable at www.liveinforliteracy.com.
