This semester, students living in East Quad are dealing with a major inconvenience that exemplifies this sort of problem. After more than five years of planning, the construction of a new elevator designed to make the residence hall more accessible to handicapped students began last month. With this construction, students living near the stairwell being gutted to accommodate a new elevator shaft have had to deal with the disruptive noise of jackhammers and other machines used to clear space for the elevator. The problem with project like these are not their intent - indeed, the construction of a new handicap-accessible elevator is a necessary improvement to the building, providing greater access to disabled students. The only existing elevator in East Quad is inadequate for handicapped students.
The problem with this type of construction project is the inefficient manner in which students were informed about this improvement to the building and the timing of the construction. Students should have been made aware before any leases were signed for next year that this construction project would extend through October. Students should also have been informed in writing when this construction was going to begin, not through word of mouth or the sound of jackhammers. The construction of the elevator should not occur during the school year but instead, should take place during a period when most students will not be disrupted. More opportune times include the beginning and end of summer break - when Orienation is not in session - and spring and winter breaks. The construction schedule of this long-awaited elevator was handled very poorly by University officials.
While University Housing espouses its "living-learning" environment, construction projects like the one in East Quad severely hamper the educational nature that the administration hopes to foster. But this problem is not limited to one residence hall - construction is common among University Housing's buildings, often forcing students to leave their homes to study.
Problems like the new East Quad elevator make students, who are enrolled and living in a University residence hall, feel like their concerns are not being taken into consideration during the decision-making process. In order for the University to improve broad-based negative assumptions about the inefficiency of such a large bureaucracy, it must conduct itself in a different, more student-considerate manner. Students have to feel like their voices are being heard by the people making important decisions affecting their lives - this was not the case in East Quad.