Friday, May 23, 2008

Expansion and Construction, or, Me Questioning BYU-Idaho's thought process


I know it's petty for me to discuss construction, traffic, administration, parking, and every other hot topic issue that happens at this university. Whenever I have these thoughts, I immediately start thinking to myself "Is there really nothing better going on in my life," "What makes me and this situation different from any other university," and "I'm running out of topics if I dip into this bag..."

Well, let me explain the sitch (I've learned that is new lingo for "situation"), and I'll tell you why I'm questioning this decision by BYU-Idaho administration.

1. We are now at about full capacity for the summer semester. We have, in any given semester, about 13,000 students attending school here.

2. On Wednesday, when this really bothered me, Sugar City High School was doing their graduation at the BYU-Idaho Hart Gymnasium. I believe we have a lot of different high schools in the area use our Hart building for graduation, like Madison, Sugar City, Rigby, St. Anthony, etc. The students on campus, plus the howevermany family members of the students graduating = grouchy brandt

3. Even though gas prices are increasing (we are at $3.79/gallon here, cheaper than many cities, but still unreasonable), I could almost bet that there are many more people on the roads, including students driving.

4. With all that as the groundwork, here's what's happened. The University has decided to embark on many construction projects around campus (not including the main construction on the addition to the Student Center and the new Conference Center). This construction has included a large block of parking in front of the girls dormatories (which is now available for parking), large sections of parking along the Clark Building (the testing center and the nursing school), a section in front of the Snow Building (performing arts) and now a random patch in front of the Snow Parking lot (which leads to the library, gym, and performing arts building.

The section in the Snow Parking lot was the one that pushed me over the edge. There is a small 3ftx3ft section in which they are working on. It is roped off. This makes it possible for only one car to enter this parking lot at a time (which is a very busy faculty parking lot, and a very busy intersection). I'm waiting for someone to get killed there (and I'm not trying to be dramatic or funny. I'm being serious).

So what's my sitch? What's my issue? Why am I devoting an entire post to construction?

Because of 14-week semesters, we have a break (now called "summer session") between the middle/end of July and the second week in September. They reserve this for freshman who just graduated, with many 100-200 level classes. Here's my question: Couldn't this have waited?

With 80% (my estimation) leaving for this 6-8 week break, and much less students around, this definatley could have waited. I understand construction schedules, and I understand how, depending on the schedule, the cost could go up. But this must have been a major emergency for this to occur.

Now aside from more and more students driving when it's 70 degrees out in the summer (which totally blows my mind), and with all the construction, I must respectfully disagree with the University's decision.

3 comments:

mayoroftheworld said...

You are probably one of those guys who can't stand progress. Now that the University is becoming larger and more successful and more recognized there will always be those who "wished things would stay the same". One of the glories of God is eternal progression - same goes for BYUi

Seth and Emily said...

I am going to have to disagree with mayoroftheworld. I don't think you can't stand progress Brandt. I can definately understand why you are frustrated by the construction situation. It possibly could have waited for the end of the semester. I wonder if thy have bigger plans for the break though.

My beef with the university's thought process is the MC. Why on earth are they making it look like a warehouse!!!??? I know they are trying to cut costs so not to waste tithing money, but warehouse siding? Where could this be going?

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