|
|
 |
||||||
 |
Opinion A Guest Attitude Time to get priorities straight Editor's Note: Leslee Rasco is an intern with The Amarillo Independent and an English major at West Texas A&M University. It's no secret that West Texas A&M University has been in a race against itself to make its campus a little more pleasing to the eye.
But with the construction on the Pedestrian Mall, a new Fine Arts Complex, the Classroom Center, a new dormitory and now a 77-foot-tall timekeeping monstrosity, one has to wonder if students will ever be able to navigate the campus without having to jump ropes of construction tape and fences. As a student, it isn't that I mind these campus improvements. They seemed like a good investment initially, but the more I pay attention to the financial aspects of each new project, the angrier I become. When WT announced the anonymous donation of $438,000 to build the clock tower, I was instantly outraged. That is close to half a million dollars. And it could be put to better use elsewhere. Not to some erection to prove WT's collegiate stature. I attend WT for an education, not to look at the scenery. If I had wanted scenery, I would have gone some place where the grass was actually green 80 percent of the time. I didn't choose WT because it had a fancy fine arts center or classrooms with cameras at the rear of each room so administrative peeping Toms could keep an eye on me. I didn't choose WT because there is a large marble buffalo in the middle of an ornate pedestrian mall. I chose WT because it is affordable for my family and me. At WT, I am given a chance to obtain a higher education at a lower price than at other schools of the same size. I am given the chance to participate in classes where professors know my name, not my number. I am given the chance to be involved in my education on a very personal level not found at larger universities. My education is formed by the knowledge of my professors and peers, not by the aesthetics of my surroundings. And having a clock tower that plays the fight song every day at noon is not going to change that. The $438,000 could change a lot of lives. That money could have been invested in scholarship funds for first-generation students, working and single parents, international students or students with learning disabilities. That $438,000 would have provided many students with the possibility of walking across the stage to receive their diploma. That $438,000 could have been invested in making WT's campus environmentally friendly. WT does not have a formal recycling program and offers its students little in the way of contributing back to the land around them. That $438,000 could have been invested in actually providing resident students with air-conditioned dormitories and wireless internet accessibility in each room. WT has eight dormitories, four of which provide only air-conditioned lobbies — not rooms. That means that during the early fall and late spring, living in a residential hall is steamier than most parents would care to think about. And to make matters worse, it is almost impossible to access the Internet if you run an operating system other than Windows XP. So Windows Vista and Mac OS users, beware — getting your Internet to function all the time is harder than that calculus exam you failed twice. That $438,000 could have improved the parking situation for commuter students who are faced with arriving 20 to 30 minutes before class time to find a parking space. That $438,000 could have been invested in recruiting field-specific professors to teach highly developed classes or offer a new field of study to the many students who find WT's list of academic majors paltry and pathetic. That $438,000 could have been used to offset the cost of books for students or provide them with a way to return their books each semester for a little bigger payoff. That $438,000 could have been used for a lot of things. But, $438,000 was used for a clock tower when we all could have just bought a watch. E-mail
comments about this story Posted: April 10, 2008
|
|
