We all know making budget cuts are difficult decisions.

The decision to reduce the Durham Center’s hours, however, was a poor one. Until this year, the Durham Center labs were open 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. With the new hours, the lab will close at midnight, and then reopen again at 7:30 a.m for Sunday through Thursday. On Friday and Saturday nights, the labs close at 10 p.m.

Dorothy Ohl Lewis, director of Academic Information Technologies, told the Daily that shutting down for seven and a half hours will save the university between $20,000 and $30,000.

That may be good news for the university, but unfortunately for students, there is no longer a lab on campus that is available at all hours of the night. Students will have to find other locations to finish up those last-minute final projects, papers and presentations at the end of the semester.

This is a cut that hits home for students. It directly affects the quality of education of those students that use the lab as a resource for classes. Not everyone has a computer of his or her own.

According to the university, $149,768 was cut from Academic Information Technology (AIT). Included in that amount is the reduction of the lab hours, student hourly help and to discontinue certain software licenses.

Not only were the hours reduced, but student computer fees remain as high as ever, something we think doesn’t make much sense.

We realize that the budget cuts must be made, but the Regents should have better recognized the importance to students of the computer lab hours in Durham Center. We’re sure there is enough fat somewhere else in the university that could have been trimmed to allow the labs to stay open.

editorialboard: Andrea Hauser, Tim Paluch, Michelle Kann, Zach Calef, Omar Tesdell