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EDITORIAL: Attend to campus maintenance
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Editorial | 11/25/08
Posted online at 3:10 AM EST on 11/25/08
Last week, a professor was observed by a member of this editorial board engaging in a heated telephone discussion about some broken lights in the lecture hall. He emphasized that Brandeis ought to look like the institute of higher learning that it is before hanging up the phone. The professor is right to be upset: Having broken and messy classrooms and other buildings around campus creates a highly unprofessional atmosphere that is not only unattractive for students to look at in their daily lives but also reflects poorly on the school and leads to an atmosphere in which students don't take their endeavors seriously.
Before elaborating on the reasons why broken lights, out-of-service toilets and empty paper towel dispensers are more problematic than one might think, let's take a moment to applaud one of the Student Union's various committees that is taking concrete steps toward fixing this eternal problem. Campus Operations Working Group, a committee that meets with Facilities Services and University administrators to address problems that students submit to them by email and via drop boxes located around campus, deserves our support. Unlike some groups, whose goals are rather more nebulous and abstract, COWG has a specific and accessible goal and is working to find solutions to the issues it takes on.
The aesthetic detriment caused by broken lights and dysfunctional facilities can have deeper implications than simply creating an unattractive environment. An untidy University is unappealing to visitors and, more importantly, prospective students. Someone who visits Brandeis and comes away with an idea that Brandeis doesn't have its facilities up to date will think of the University as a whole as disorganized.
Most importantly, it's possible that a sloppy-looking environment can cause students to feel down. When the University doesn't show respect for the student/faculty atmosphere, students (and maybe even faculty) won't show respect for the subject at hand-education. The professor was correct in complaining that Facilities' lackadaisical attitude towards the broken lights he'd previously reported showed disrespect toward Brandeis as an institute of higher learning. Whether it's conscious or not, the classroom environment shapes students' actions, and a disorganized classroom encourages disorganized behavior.
And the most obvious reason why the broken things around campus need to be fixed is purely cosmetic. Why should students, faculty and staff have to conduct their studies in buildings that could easily be spruced up by having their fixtures and basic machines fixed? While anyone with a UNet ID can file a work order online, COWG can navigate the facilities system for students who are somehow intimidated by the idea of filing a work order or whose work orders have been neglected.
Hopefully, over time, COWG can beautify our campus for both students and professors with its efforts to stay on top of the inevitable broken lights and peeling paint. We encourage students to support the committee and its goals by taking advantage of the suggestion boxes to submit their own ideas.
Before elaborating on the reasons why broken lights, out-of-service toilets and empty paper towel dispensers are more problematic than one might think, let's take a moment to applaud one of the Student Union's various committees that is taking concrete steps toward fixing this eternal problem. Campus Operations Working Group, a committee that meets with Facilities Services and University administrators to address problems that students submit to them by email and via drop boxes located around campus, deserves our support. Unlike some groups, whose goals are rather more nebulous and abstract, COWG has a specific and accessible goal and is working to find solutions to the issues it takes on.
The aesthetic detriment caused by broken lights and dysfunctional facilities can have deeper implications than simply creating an unattractive environment. An untidy University is unappealing to visitors and, more importantly, prospective students. Someone who visits Brandeis and comes away with an idea that Brandeis doesn't have its facilities up to date will think of the University as a whole as disorganized.
Most importantly, it's possible that a sloppy-looking environment can cause students to feel down. When the University doesn't show respect for the student/faculty atmosphere, students (and maybe even faculty) won't show respect for the subject at hand-education. The professor was correct in complaining that Facilities' lackadaisical attitude towards the broken lights he'd previously reported showed disrespect toward Brandeis as an institute of higher learning. Whether it's conscious or not, the classroom environment shapes students' actions, and a disorganized classroom encourages disorganized behavior.
And the most obvious reason why the broken things around campus need to be fixed is purely cosmetic. Why should students, faculty and staff have to conduct their studies in buildings that could easily be spruced up by having their fixtures and basic machines fixed? While anyone with a UNet ID can file a work order online, COWG can navigate the facilities system for students who are somehow intimidated by the idea of filing a work order or whose work orders have been neglected.
Hopefully, over time, COWG can beautify our campus for both students and professors with its efforts to stay on top of the inevitable broken lights and peeling paint. We encourage students to support the committee and its goals by taking advantage of the suggestion boxes to submit their own ideas.
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