The above quote is from Nancy Weissman (Class of 1980). Read the full memory below:

In 1979, I was assigned a carrel on the third floor of the Rock where I researched and wrote my honors thesis on medieval Italian social history. A major benefit was being able to check books out to the carrel. Another was the view across Prospect Street to the Green behind Slater, which refreshed my mind when creativity stalled. Recently I returned, and could not be sure which was mine, despite the many, many times I wrote the carrel’s address on book request slips.

I much preferred the Rock to the Sci Li for study. The building’s larger footprint meant that there was a higher level of background noise, so I wasn’t easily distracted by the doors to the stairwells opening and closing, and only by that one silly student from the class of 1982 who clip clopped around the floor in her clogs, like a little hoover animal. Did she ever study? Graduate? at least she had a lot of friends to visit, which is decidedly part of being at the Rock.

The second floor reading room, overlooking the city, was the best place to read unassigned books, like fiction after exams were over. The swivel chairs by the windows were also excellent places to nap, usually unintentionally.