The new hours for the UI Studio Arts Building have restricted the nimble hands of UI artists, who have nowhere else to go to finish their school projects. For the immediate future, studio-art students will no longer have access to the building after 10 p.m., The Daily Iowan reported.

Unlike other majors, such students can’t simply go to the library or use a UI computer to complete their coursework. The art equipment and facilities are of the utmost importance and, thus, shouldn’t be shut down when avoidable. The problem arose when the UI decided it couldn’t afford the security guards that monitor the building after-hours.

After speaking with a professor in the School of Arts and Art History, the Editorial Board has learned that the problem will be a temporary one. Nonetheless, the current situation is not equitable for art majors, and previous hours should be rectified immediately.

Steve McGuire, an art-education professor and the coordinator for the school’s studio division, said UI officials are working hard to staff the building 24 hours a day.

“We are putting together all the resources to make that available,” he said, noting that the provost and College of Liberal Arts officials have been “instrumental” in the process.

McGuire said the UI police monitor the building 16 out of the 44 hours not staffed by professors. However, he said he’s uncertain how the process will unfold.

“It’s not clear who is going to be there when,” he said.

The university and art school should be applauded for their quick movement to address this unfair situation. But that does not outweigh the punitive damage that the cut in hours places on art students. This problem creates an unnecessary fissure between studio-art majors and the university.

As much as it might be unfair to others, art majors do require special needs when conducting their projects. Unlike a student majoring in business or journalism, these students lack the equipment and space to take their work home with them. Furthermore, they have invested a great deal of money into their education as a result of thisdifference.

McGuire compared it to a laboratory for science majors. When all the equipment is locked and stowed away, it is detrimental to students’ education. For the time being, this is what art students will have to go through.

The Studio Arts Building could follow in the path of the Adler Journalism and Mass Communication Building and Seamans Center in allowing authorized students to enter with their university ID card.

This would protect studio-art students with a locked building but still allow them a cheap and efficient way to continue their late-night work.

UI President Sally Mason told the DI in the spring that the old Menards building would be a good temporary location for fine-arts students.

From the beginning, allowances such as this have had to be made because of flood damage. Art facilities were hit especially hard and are now scattered across the UI campus and community. The cut in hours at the Studio Arts Building is just an extension of the nomadic existence that has plagued the arts department.

Every student should feel the university is doing its best to provide a solid education. While cutting the Studio Arts Building’s hours doesn’t affect the university writ large, the current situation has a decidedly negative effect on scores of studio-arts students. While UI officials’ efforts to solve the problem are laudable, the building’s previous hours should be restored immediately.