This week, Housing and Dining Programs started up Study Bucks, a new program that attempts to encourage South side residents to study more, according to Paul Brown, the program's coordinator and assistant director of Residence Life.
"Study Bucks has two main goals," Brown said. "One, it promotes studying in resident halls, and two, kind of reminds people that, hey, this is an academic environment and people need to study."
Resident assistants on duty will award South side residents Study Bucks when they see them studying in the lounges. At the Residence Hall Association's midterm study break and the final study break, students will be able to trade their study bucks in for various prizes. The prizes have yet to be determined, according to Brown.
He said he hopes the program will also promote South side RAs to get to know their residents better.
"It will help strike up conversation [between RAs and residents]," Brown said. "When a RA gives someone a study buck, it's a reason to have a conversation with a resident to see how they're doing; it helps make a connection."
Some South side residents are in favor of the program, but some also see potential negative elements.
James Wigley, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences and a resident of a South side dorm, said he thinks the program will be effective in getting people to study, but added that students will do it with the wrong intentions.
"If [study bucks do] encourage people to study it will encourage them to do it for the wrong reasons," he said.
Ayal Chen-Zion, a freshman in CAS and the School of International Service, said he thinks the program has potential, but it probably will not work as well as planned.
"It's an interesting idea," he said. "In the end, it will be seen as ineffective."
Brown said he hopes the program will get students to study more and said if it is effective, he hopes to initiate it in the North side dorms next year.
The only reason the program is not on North side this semester is because Housing and Dining wanted to monitor the pilot program's success - something that would be easiest to do on South side because Brown's office is located there, he said.
Brown said he does not think North side residents will be upset about not having study bucks in their halls yet, and that if they are, it's a good sign for the program.
"I would be overjoyed if they really cared about the program that much," he said. "If [the North side residents] really wanted to see study bucks on their side of campus that much, we will know in the fall that we should expand the program."
The program's success will be tracked through a Housing and Dining survey. The survey will be conducted towards the end of the semester and will focus both on Study Bucks and other concerns residents might have, according to Brown.
On Tuesday, the South side RAs were given Study Bucks and can now begin handing them out, he said.
You can reach this staff writer at atuman@theeagleonline.com.
