No sleep for you

Students around Austin Community College's Rio Grande campus need not worry the next time they doze off before class. Most students who have time to spare between classes and possibly a lack of sleep the night before from, um, studying can sometimes be found asleep on benches.

One location on the campus seemed quartered off from sleepy students. A foyer on the second floor just outside of the auditorium seemed like a restricted area. Two neon yellow-greenish signs are posted stating that sleeping on the couches is prohibited. Campus Operations Manager Marilyn Lee Taylor states that this should not be misinterpreted.

"The signs are not geared toward students," Lee Taylor says.

As she explains the signs were posted for transients making the area a rest stop during the morning. When the campus opens at 6:30 in the morning, transients would follow up hygiene check ups in the restrooms with a nap. As she has witnessed before, these naps wouldn't qualify as a power nap.

"I've come in the morning and seen them and then used the restroom later in the morning and have still seen them there," Taylor said.

Students on the other hand are always welcomed. Taylor says it's understandable if students take a nap around campus if they're having a bad day or feeling ill.

Even though the no sleep signs don't oblige to students, some believe that a catnap on campus shouldn't be an issue.

"Just from my experience, I'm here 10hrs a day and sometimes I take a catnap and feel rejuvenated afterwards," said Erin Williams, a dental hygiene student who attends Rio Grande.

Some students said they would also be open to the idea of comfortable furniture around campus. Cypress Creek just last year had new couches placed in the commons area of the campus. The only place at Rio Grande for students to convene is the courtyard but is inhabited mostly by student smokers.