By now, it is obvious to everyone that the campus is once again under construction, which is an inconvenience to most if not all students. I find it to be particularly annoying being a resident in Lycoming Hall.
It is frustrating not knowing what is going on and what we will be getting out of having to deal with the disruption of construction noise and walking detours because the main stairs that lead to the commons and Kehr Union are out of service. At what point does the construction on campus begin to cause issues for students?
Over the past few years, the constant construction makes travelling from dorm to dining to class an issue. Blocking the main walkways on campus adds more travel time and ultimately more frustration.
To add to that annoyance, students that live nearby like myself must listen to all of the noise that comes with the construction which more often than not begins somewhere in the range of 8am. This is frustrating because my sleep should not have to be disrupted by the sounds of drilling and hammering when I could be getting an extra hour or two of sleep on some mornings.
Personally, I think most of the construction inside of Lycoming Hall was unnecessary. I agree with, and am happy about the addition of air conditioning. However, I think the renovations to the bathrooms were not a necessity. Sure, they look better aesthetically but from a practical standpoint they are worse than they were before.
There used to be six sinks and now there are only four. There used to be two doors and now there is only one. The showers are smaller and there are no longer benches inside the shower changing area to put your things on. The thing I find especially annoying is that there are no longer deep sinks to do dishes in. Some of these may seem like little inconveniences but I feel that it was simple situation of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The bathrooms were functional before and that is more important to me than pretty countertops.
Another way that the construction is annoying is the fact that nobody seems to know what is going on. Everybody seems to know a little piece of information that they heard through the grapevine or that this person heard it from that person. But there has never been a clear announcement on what the benefit will be from having to live in a construction zone.
I think that I would be frustrated about the construction regardless, but I would be less annoyed if I knew what it was for and what it was going to be. I for one would like to be informed, and I would also like to know an estimated completion date.
It would be much easier to deal with if we knew we would only have to put up with it for another month for example. Needless to say, it will be a happy day when all of the construction is finally over with.
Lauren is a sophomore Graphic Design major. She is on the Program Board and a member of the Catholic Campus Ministry.
