The De Anza College library has instated a new occupancy policy for its private study rooms this year, requiring a minimum of three students.

The previous policy allowed two students to check out a study room.

The primary motivation behind the policy change was to use the limited number of study rooms more efficiently, library coordinator Tom Dolen said.

“We only have four tucked away on the second floor,” said Dolen. “The purpose of the study rooms is for people to do academic work, and we just found that three was the minimum number for people to do so.”

Dolen said that the library also made the policy change after discovering non-sanctioned activity, such as graffiti and litter, in the study rooms.

Sexual misconduct in the study rooms might also have been a factor in the policy change, though Dolen provided no comment on it.

“People say that students were possibly getting jiggy with it in these rooms,” said Gorav Bagga, a second-year English major.

“It can still be three people checking in, then a person leaves and two people are left in the room – it really doesn’t affect anything.”

Shela Duong, a first-year biological sciences major, also said that “there was a dirty rumor that people had sex in there.”

Fellow study room user Adrien Pasche, a second-year journalism major, disagreed.

“They just don’t have enough space, so they want to cram more people in those rooms,” Pasche said.

Despite the policy change, students said it wouldn’t affect their preference of working in the study rooms over other areas on campus.

“I would just go to the library,” Duong said. “It’s warm inside, and there’s no other quiet place to work.”

“The regular tables can get pretty loud,” said Sourabh Kambha, a second-year computer science major who meets with Bagga and others once or twice a week in the study rooms. “And although we’re working on individual stuff, we can help each other. Outside, we can’t talk.”

Dolen said that the library’s pending renovation will add more study rooms to the ground floor. The study rooms will have glass walls and include new technology.

“I understand that the current situation is not optimal for anybody,” Dolen said. “The solution is to bring the rooms downstairs so it’s integrated into all the other activity at the library.”

Students said that the future change was a reasonable solution.

“We want a better environment,” said Gur Singh, a first-year undecided major. “We want to study better.”