By Kelly Kim
Staff Writer
On my usual walk to Bliss Hall, I witnessed the person in front of me fall to the ground.
Astounded, I slowed down my pace so as to process what just happened because it seemed as though he tripped on air when I noticed and realized that his foot stepped in a slight indent in the walkway, so subtle that it looked as though there was nothing there at all until you stare long enough.
Two days later I went back to Bliss Hall, taking the same route, when I noticed that the indent had been covered by this small gravel-like material that matched the color of the ground and somewhat leveled out the surface.
This occurrence and the lack of effort to fix the issue got me wondering about the poor infrastructure around campus, and how there are so many locations that need fixing. Yet, the efforts in trying to remedy those problems seem lackluster at best.
It is not just that one walkway outside of Bliss Hall that has infrastructural issues. There are other locations, such as the unlevel surfaces in front of the Travers and Wolfe towers.
For those who currently live in the towers and those before who have lived in these dorms, the unleveled infrastructure is most inconvenient during heavy rainstorms, days where when it rains so hard it creates these massive puddles in front of the towers that make it virtually impossible for one to traverse through without getting their shoes completely soaked.
Because the ground in front of the towers is lower than the actual terrain further out from campus, there is a slight divot down that causes any rain water to congregate into puddles, and it feels as though one is climbing uphill when trying to leave the towers.
Though little can be done about massive forming puddles, it’s the fact that the towers are placed in such a way that this has to be a problem to begin with. For students having to walk to class in the pouring rain only to then be met with an annoying and irritating obstacle, puddles can ruin a day.
While only so much can actually be achieved, one of the ways the College can improve on such issues is attending to them faster; instead of leaving things to be on the verge of breaking or to be broken, remedy the situation before it becomes a problem for students in the future.
Another solution could be fixing the problem as soon as it is noticed or reported. The College could set a deadline in which the problem, whether it be a pothole or a broken brick on a walkway, has to be solved.
When the campus is met with such inconveniences, it’s hard to combat it with ease. Students deserve timely and efficient solutions to their problems, especially when their wellbeing is connected to the infrastructure of campus.
