Just last week you were able to park in the front row of that faculty lot outside the Student Union. In three seconds you were inside that climate-controlled atrium they just built and if you wanted a quick cup of Joe, you could walk right to the front of the line and it'll be in your hand in no time.
Now, you circle the parking lot for 25 minutes, hoping you'll find one empty spot and make it to your mid-morning class on time. You slosh through the mounds of unplowed snow, walking for what seems like miles to the nearest building. You figure you've got a couple extra minutes so you duck into the Student Union for an extra large hot chocolate. However you find yourself in the Tim Hortons line anyway just as soon as you walk through that extra set of doors from the climate-controlled atrium.
Welcome back to North Campus in 2009, snow birds.
Believe me, the Internet was working on Saturday before you all came back from break. The apartments were quiet and the bathrooms smelled better. And check out the Safety Report--only 12 reports in a month's time in there. Nearly half of them occurred this past weekend when a majority of students returned to campus. Coincidence?
All that amounts to one thing: UB is a better place without the students - or at least not as many of them. It's still not a great place, but less people bring about fewer problems.
Granted you do lose that personal interaction with the people you know. But if you've ever been on campus when it's a ghost town, then you've probably realized that there's really not much to miss. However those pesky aesthetic problems of the campus still remain.
It's not like any of these problems are new either. The university has always had too many students without the space or resources to adequately accommodate them.
Adding 10,000 students over the next 11 years sounds great in theory. And while the plans look nice on paper, where are all these students going to go while construction is underway? If you think parking is bad now, just wait when lots are being razed for new buildings.
Or where will you have class when buildings are being torn down to make room for all of that much-needed green space? It's not like those old trailers are around anymore.
Mind you, all of this is pending the resolution of the current budget crisis. Can UB even support that great influx of students and services when the administration is constantly being asked to cut back everything it does?
We live in tough times. Expansion sounds like a great idea, but it's an initiative that could end up hurting us in the end.
Not all of the parking lots are even plowed properly - thinking of what roads will be like with more cars and more lots is scary. Besides, how far out will these lots really end up being from the buildings on campus?
And parking is just one issue. The plans may look nice and comprehensive, but plans always change.
Like all things in Western New York, expansion may end up being one of those projects 20 years in the making - and counting.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
