Literature Lab lacks a space of its own

Brianna Lee
Staff Writer

A large part of preparing for classes in college in any discipline involves reading and comprehending materials on one’s own time. When taken into account that the average reading level of the American adult is the ninth grade level, this can understandably become a Herculean task.

In order to alleviate this difficulty, McNeese offers the Literature Lab, which to be a little-known gem of an on-campus resource. It's also a lab that doesn't have a dedicated space.

Students wishing to seek this service should go to the graduate offices located at Kaufman 301 and will meet in the office of whichever graduate student is available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. There’s no central classroom for the Literature Lab, unlike the Language Lab or the Write to Excellence Center.

Dr. Rita Costello, associate English professor, told the Contraband that she believes the lack of a permanent room may correlate with the lack of willing participants.

The Literature Lab is comprised of graduate students working towards a Master of Arts in English or a Master of Fine Arts. These tutors are available to any student studying any subject for the purpose of understanding and analyzing text. 

“Back before Kaufman’s renovations, the Lit Lab was used pretty steadily, especially by students in general education courses,” she said. “Once we were displaced from Kaufman for renovation and since we returned to Kaufman (in a different location), very few students have visited the Lit Lab,” Costello said. 

There is a silver lining, though: students seeking assistance will not have to wait, as there's no line down the third floor of Kaufmann, according to Paul Hansen, a staff member of the Lit Lab. 

“We happen to live in a state that doesn’t really value humanities education,”said Paul Hansen, a staff member in the Lit Lab.

“If we had an actual room, that would really behoove us.” 

Despite the lack of a room, there still exists well-read people available to assist in the comprehension and context of literature, people like first year Master of Fine Arts graduate student Gage Saylor.

“The Literature Lab is more of a state of mind,” Saylor said.

“The Lit Lab tutors are not experts in all fields or languages so they may not know a particular term or jargon specific to a field of study, but they are heavily invested in texts and reading, so they will have strategies for finding out answers to what they don't know and will be able to help students even in other fields,” Costello said.