EDITORIAL: Fixing the unbroken
The Central Michigan University Board of Trustees approved a $1.5 million renovation to the Real Food on Campus cafeteria Thursday, specifying the new addition of a Mongolian grill.
While improving campus in any way is a great thought, the real problems are being overlooked. Just down the road, the old Robinson Hall cafeteria is in absolutely terrible condition compared to the RFoC as it stands now.
If the improvement of an already great cafeteria rather than that of Robinson is step one in phasing out north campus as a whole, CMU needs to come out and say that. Frankly, this seems like a ridiculous and unnecessary improvement.
It seems CMU is fixing what is not broken, but leaving deteriorating buildings as they are. Anspach and Brooks halls are just two examples of older buildings on campus being pushed aside by other projects.
A College of Medicine and biosciences building are projects CMU is focusing on. Building state-of-the-art facilities on campus is an admirable goal, but CMU should bring the old buildings up to par with the newer aspects of campus and give students what they really want — a lab to do their coursework in and coverage of printing for their homework.
But a $1.5 million added feature to an already nice cafeteria? Come on.
CMU needs to delegate certain funds, specifically those used for improving the already sufficient buildings and programs, for what students care about more, such as reasonable conditions of the most-used buildings, free printing and computer lab space.
Each student is limited to $10 worth of printed pages provided by the university each semester, but many students go over that amount with a mere two to three courses. Whether it’s lengthy papers for an English class or extensive readings professors require to be printed for class, students end up paying a large portion of this cost out of pocket.
Several years ago, CMU offered a number of incentives to potential students along with their already-established interest in a field of study at the school. Only some are still apparent.
These include, but are not limited to, a reasonable coverage of printing costs, free admittance to sporting events, an abundance of computer lab space, free fitness center passes and low-cost or free parking.
These are all features students appreciate(d) about CMU, especially since many other universities in Michigan do not offer these amenities.
In addition, the College of Business Administration students who previously used Grawn Hall’s computer lab are now displaced to a smaller lab in Ronan Hall because of a $500,000 renovation in Grawn (the funds for the renovation were provided by Isabella Bank).
This is where CMU should recognize the limited computer space, and use their funds to provide it. In previously published reports, students complained about the inconvenience in location and having to wait for an open computer.
There are better uses for $1.5 million than repairing an already sufficient dining complex.
Ignoring issues like a $10 printing limit, an insufficient dining complex in north campus or building problems won't make them go away.
