While I was initially neutral to SNAILS (students not actually in law school), the library during exam season has made me reconsider
Last year, the law library was victim to bed bugs—an infestation that was handled rather swiftly. While I still question how effectively that issue was dealt with from time to time, a more pressing matter plagues my thoughts—SNAILS. If you aren’t familiar, SNAILS (students not actually in law school) is an acronym to describe non-law students.
My first encounter with a SNAIL was during October of my 1L when I ventured into the library for the first time (I studied at home before this, I promise). The fishbowl was essentially full, except for one table that had only one person. As I approached the table, I noticed the girl sitting there had her varsity backpack on one seat, her jacket on another, and her feet on the chair directly in front of her. When I asked her if she could move her jacket, she did not respond, and looked like she was doing me a favour as she moved it.
I didn’t let this first encounter with a SNAIL get to me—there’s always going to be one bad SNAIL in a pack of SNAILS. But this mindset did not last long. Once December hit, things got personal. As a victim of $35,000 tuition, and someone who consumes coffee for meals, I greatly looked forward to having some of the complimentary snacks distributed by the law school during exam season. As my luck would have it, nearly every time my friends and I would go to get said snacks, there would be nothing good left. On more than one occasion, we would go back upstairs to a group of SNAILS with five or six stroopwafels and honey dijon chips, talking about how great the building is and telling their other friends about the snacks.
While I’m not proposing that the entire existence of SNAILS be erased from the law library, I think it’s frustrating to see how they take over during exam season. During this time, the fishbowl is supposed to be exclusively for law students, yet SNAILS continue to study there. Many of them come in groups, chatting amongst themselves in the fishbowl, which is supposed to be a designated silent zone (there’s only so much that noise-cancelling earphones can do). Allegedly, there have been times when they’ve been asked to show their student cards to show that they’re law students, but I’ve only ever heard the librarians announce on the PA system to remind them that they aren’t allowed in the fishbowl – an announcement most often met with a concerning amount of giggles throughout the room.
Law students at Osgoode and TMU have to use their fobs to get into their respective libraries. If we were to implement this, there would no longer be the struggle to find a seat in the library or having to ask a SNAIL to be quiet (which I have never had the courage to do) when studying for exams. Undergraduate students have a number of libraries available to them, whereas the law library is the most accessible option for many law students.
Despite suggesting this, and no matter how passionate I am about ending the SNAIL-festation, I don’t see them going anywhere. As December approaches, all I can hope for is that I get my fair share of free stroopwafels.