On Our Mind: Increased political involvement

Cartoon by Taryn Trousdale

Every student here at ESU has likely seen the construction near the Towers parking lot, and has heard of other projects, such as loss of power to Singular Hall this week. It is our opinion that these changes were made at the wrong time, no matter how badly they are needed.

Construction around the Towers complex has been an ongoing problem this spring. When students came back from spring break they could not even drive out of campus on 15th Avenue due to the construction. This made life more complicated for numerous students who used that road to come to and leave campus daily. Now, with that construction done, the construction has moved up to the road by the Towers parking lot. We do not deny that the construction and renovations were needed, but we do question the timing in which it was done.

Another example is the power being turned off in Singular Hall this week. This was done to connect a new transformer to the system that was already in place. To do so the fire alarms, elevators and lights in the lobbies did not work for an entire day. Though these repairs did not affect the electricity in the individual dorm rooms, hallways or the bathrooms, the lives of those living in Singular were endangered because of the fact that the fire alarms were not working, not to mention the effect it would have on students who are unable to use stairs to get where they need to go. In our opinion, this too was the product of bad timing.

The renovations to the Towers and Singular Hall are affecting too many students.

No one is saying that these renovations were not necessary, or that they will not be beneficial to those going to ESU. The problem really is just the timing chosen to do it.

There have been rumors that the reason such renovations are being done at this time is because they were contracted to do so, but whatever the reason, something should have been done to assure that the problems the students of ESU are facing now would not have affected such a large number of students.

Those in charge of such renovations should have taken into consideration the timeframe during which they were doing this construction and the effect it would have on the lives of students. We believe that these renovations should have waited until the summer, when the number of students on campus is lower.

We propose that in the future those responsible for renovations to the school will take into consideration the number of students these projects will affect, and accordingly, choose a more convenient time for these renovations.