McClay Study Room Marked Green Actually a Silent Study Desk – “Treacherous”, Says Student
By The Fish
The McClay is many things. It’s a fort for overnight binges with the occasional trip to Chip Co. It’s a place of gathering and (un)substantive discussions prior to 9am class presentations, as well as a place of newfound solace and academic enlightenment. It’s also an unpredictable hell during midterm season, and that’s the sentiment I found from local student, Andy Cavanagh (not his real name).
Mr Cavanagh aimed to book a room for three hours before his 3pm class test in economics, and he – as per usual – employed the ‘Queen’s Online’ portal to book the usual ‘group study room’, which he uses alone due to his absolutely reasonable commit to silence in a ‘library’.
However, turning up at noon he found his plans shattered: he had apparently missed the blatant fact that it was not a private room, rather a room full of people! He had accidentally booked “Desk 7” within a room on the ground floor, not Room 7. “That” he says, “explains why there was so much available”, explaining how literally all private rooms were booked, leaving 8 lonely rows of that eye-catching, welcoming green.
“The ninth circle” was the answer to my question of potential punishment for the designer of this perceived subterfuge. “Treachery”, as in Dante’s masterpiece, does not begin to cover the sheer deception of Queen’s Online’s portal. Andy chose on sheer colour, and such colour “tricked” him.
I haven’t since caught up with Mr Cavanagh after his class test, but I can only hope him the best after having studied in a shared room… with people…
Written 12 Nov 2025.
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