Would you move this stuff, or just let it chill?

We all know the saying that the early bird gets the worm, but that cliche seems especially applicable when it comes to Butler and its many, but oft-occupied, study desks. In wake of this demand for quality, individualized study space, especially during midterms, many students turn to reserving Butler desks for the entire day with their notebooks, coffee cups, or, dare I say, even a single notecard.

My upcoming Frontiers of Science exam had inspired me to investigate this phenomenon with a more scientific approach. So from Wednesday through Friday of this week (peak midterm hours, nonetheless), I created and tested an experiment to truly find out: how many hours can you actually leave your stuff to reserve a desk in Butler?

First, I hypothesized that a notebook, an expanding file, and a few papers could reserve a Butler study desk for at least 48 hours without perturbance. This hypothesis was both falsifiable and parsimonious – meaning it was fine according to FroSci standards.

Beginning at 8:32 am on Wednesday morning, I scoped out a desk in Butler 202 and left my notebook, file, and papers, while I went to grab breakfast. I returned 8 hours later to find my stuff undisturbed, as expected.

Over the course of the next two days, I used my desk for a number of short study periods (12-3 pm Wednesday, 7-8 pm Wednesday, 9-12 pm Thursday, and 9-12 pm Friday morning) and consistently found my study materials present and unchanged.

By the conclusion of this experiment at noon on Friday, I had found that no one had moved my stuff from the desk for over 50 hours. Wow! – according to my results, a student can expect to be able to reserve a Butler study desk for at least 50 out of 168 hours each week!

Though my hypothesis was proven correct, there are perhaps some confounding variables that, as FroSci has taught me, must not be overlooked. Maybe the study materials I left, i.e. my LitHum syllabus, proved too threatening to potential desk-pirates and further aided the reservation of the desk for so long.

I’m not saying that you should reserve a desk in Butler for nearly three (or potentially infinite) days, but I’m just saying you can do this. What you do now with the newfound power of this knowledge is completely up to you.