Geisel Library is set to reestablish its weekday 24-hour schedule for Floor 2 East midway through Spring Quarter 2026, according to Associated Students President William Simpson and Campus-Wide Senator Kaleb Truchan. The exact date of the reinstatement is not yet confirmed. 

Geisel Library initially suspended its 24-hour weekday services during Fall Quarter 2024 due to a deficit caused by budget cuts across UC San Diego, including a $3.3 million cut to library services. Previously, all areas of Floors 1 and 2 were open for 24 hours. 

A.S. stated that the Office of the Chancellor has reached an agreement with the library to cover its deficit by allocating a “potluck” of funds from the budgets of administrative departments under the chancellor. 

Truchan told The UCSD Guardian he could not disclose the amount of Geisel’s funding deficit, nor which departments would cover the funding. 

Simpson and Truchan announced the change on Friday at 10 a.m. on Instagram.

In their meetings to discuss the reinstatement, Simpson and Truchan said library administrators raised concerns about the long-term financial stability of the library, citing recent budget cuts, layoffs, and the need to protect unionized workers from further workplace instability. 

Library administrators are worried that the chancellor’s coverage of the funding gap will not be sustainable long term. Simpson told The Guardian that A.S. and the UCSD administration are still trying to find other funding solutions, like grants.

In a November 2025 survey created by Truchan in collaboration with the A.S. Office of Student Advocacy, 99.7% of 1,200 students respondents indicated that they wanted 24-hour weekday access to return. 

“I understand the students’ concern because I was in their same shoes,” Truchan said to The Guardian. “When I was in my first year and lived on campus, I spent a lot of my time studying in Geisel because my dorm wasn’t a safe place to study.” 

Later that week, the A.S. Senate passed a resolution in support of restoring Geisel’s schedule, with all eight college councils in support. 

“We brought those results into every conversation with campus leadership, persistently and unapologetically, until it was clear this issue wasn’t going to fade away,” Simpson said.

Simpson and Truchan told The Guardian that they met twice with head librarian Erik Mitchell in Fall Quarter 2025. They also held discussions with Executive Vice Chancellor Elizabeth Simmons, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Alysson Satterlund, and Chancellor Pradeep Khosla. 

Geisel’s budget falls under the Office of Academic Affairs, which is led by Simmons. When Simpson and Truchan first approached her in December, Simmons rejected their proposal, citing her office’s lack of funds. 

Over winter break, Simpson communicated with Satterlund, who then developed the “potluck” design in early January. Satterlund found the funds for this fiscal year from the various administrative budgets of the Office of the Chancellor. Two weeks ago, Khosla approved the restoration of the library’s 24-hour weekday schedule. 

Simpson spoke on the continued interaction between the administration and A.S. 

“We’ve built a really good working relationship with the administration,” Simpson said. “We are not scared to push back, but we built a relationship of respect with them, especially after the disability resource hub … contemplation lounge.”

The University first established Geisel’s 24-hour weekday policy in 2011. That Fall, a $3 million budget cut to the Center for Library and Instructional Computing Services — now Galbraith Hall — forced CLICS to end its 24-hour service. In December 2011, students organized a sit-in at CLICS, resulting in restored 24-hour access to Geisel until 2024.

The Office of the University Librarian, the Office of the Chancellor, and the associate communications director for Operations Management, Finance and Administration did not provide comment on the announcement to The Guardian by time of publishing.

CORRECTION 2/23: The last paragraph of this article was corrected to more accurately reflect the engagement of the communication offices The Guardian reached out to for comment.