Eleven students protesting the weekend closure of the California State University, Fresno, library took an offer from university President John Welty seriously and showed up at his house to study Saturday night.
Welty was not home, but university officials opened the lanai beside the house for use as a study hall.
The room is furnished with couches, chairs, tables, lamps, rugs and a fireplace.
Floor-to-ceiling windows on one side of the room look out onto the backyard swimming pool.
On one side of the room, two long folding tables and several folding chairs were available for students. An open box of chocolate chip creme cookies sat on one table.
Welty's study hall offer was made Tuesday during a two-hour meeting with about 250 students who were protesting higher student fees, class cuts and other reductions, due to state budget cuts.
One student asked whether he could study at Welty's house since the library is closed, and Welty agreed. Welty lives in a neoclassical-style home built on Van Ness Boulevard in 1941. The house was donated to the university in 1965 for use by its president.
Paul Oliaro, the university's vice president for student affairs, was on hand to point out the pool house to students.
Fresno State senior Anthony Rispoli, 22, of Fresno said he had called Welty's office to make arrangements to use the president's house as a study hall.
For about 15 minutes, Rispoli, a social work major, was the only person in the pool house, reading "Macropractice Social Work" and "Qualitative Methods in Social Work Research."
Seven other students arrived by 6:15 p.m., including Polo Ortiz, 24, a graduate student working on a master's degree in Spanish.
"I'm here because I don't see any space at the university really appropriate to study," Ortiz said. "Why is the library closed when we are paying more every semester?"
Rispoli said he hoped "just the process of coming here" will help get his point across that students need the library open on weekends.
Studying at home can be too distracting, and students need the library's resources.
But Rispoli was disappointed that Welty was not there, and that the home's porch lights were off. "He should have told me no, if he's not going to be home," he said.
Rispoli said he plans to ask Welty whether students can come to the home to study again.
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