Just two weeks removed from Spring Break and all the snow on campus has melted (though it's still pretty cold and soggy out there). But as we get our first glimpses of the ground in a long, long time, the university's facilities are also seemingly melting away.
Among the building problems we've heard about recently:
• An elevator fire in Stoke Hall caused a late night evacuation, and put students out onto the street for over three hours.
• A dangerously over-pressurized gas line caused an early-morning evacuation of Smith Hall and required that a large portion of campus to be cordoned off as authorities made safety checks.
• A ceiling panel in HoCo fell out, landing on a table that some diners had just gotten up from.
• In the PCAC, some classroom ceiling tiles have eroded away, presumably because of water damage, exposing wires and ductwork.
• The Philbrook Hall was closed for most of Monday because the fire alarm system was not up to code.
• Last week, the heat in the Woodside Apartments had to be shut down due to a "major steam leak" in the McLaughlin/Scott Hall area.
• Residents in Gables B tower have been advised that their emergency backup systems will be shut down due to the replacement of a transfer switch. Though the residents didn't lose power, they would have been affected in the event of an emergency.
We're sure there were other maintenance issues that happened around campus that affected the normal daily routines of students around campus.
While the frequency these events are occurring is somewhat worrying, we're not ready to place blame on anyone or say about the campus is falling apart. With over 40 buildings on campus to take care of and a limited budget, the grounds and maintenance crews are stretched thin trying to keep everything up and running.
However, many of the recent problems have been directly tied to student safety and need to be addressed immediately. In recent years, the university has directed a lot of money towards renovations of academic and administrative buildings. Maybe some of the money intended for the UNH master plan could be moved to a fund dedicated to immediate infrastructure improvements to the most used buildings.
UNH builds new facilities, in part, to attract prospective students. Yet, when those students first come to UNH they are shuffled to the buildings that need the most work (first-year writing in Ham Smith, built-up triples in Stoke, etc.) And though the opportunities to use the newer facilities will eventually come, there needs to be a more concerted effort to keep the older buildings in better shape. Though it may mean sacrificing some of the new, shiny things, the university owes it to the students to take care of the old stalwarts.
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