Imagine being an English student sitting in the Engineering West building on a blazing hot afternoon, trying to focus on what your professor is trying to teach. You are attempting to pay attention, but there are too many distractions: Your feet are vibrating from the jackhammers in the classroom next door5; you hear the rustling of sandpaper against a splintery piece of wood; you have sweat dripping down your forehead due to no air ventilation; you hear the static from the radios the construction men are blasting; and, most aggravating of all, the feeling that you are going to have more sweat beads dripping down your face while walking to the next building over to simply use the restroom facilities. This fall quarter’s poor learning conditions at the so-called “crown jewel” of the CSU system are completely unjust toward Cal Poly’s students and the professors.
The conditions in Engineering West are absolutely absurd. How could the university board want teachers to teach and students attempt to learn in such poor learning conditions? It is nearly impossible to focus on the lesson while there is such loud construction occurring in the classroom to the left. After each class meeting, the students and teachers feel as if the past hour and 50 minutes were a complete waste of time. Rather than wasting this valuable time, students could either be placed in another classroom or use their time more wisely than sitting in an unbearable classroom where nothing is gets accomplished.
In order to solve this issue and improve Engineering West learning environments, the construction should occur at night, on holiday breaks, or any other time classes are not in session. If the renovations need to be finished in the Engineering West building as soon as possible, classes should be moved to another building without hammering, nailing, sanding and loud radio static.
English students in the Engineering West building will no longer stand for such unfair conditions. The students want to learn and the teachers want to teach. These desires cannot be fulfilled until the students no longer have to feel their feet vibrating, hear nails being hammered or be hot, sweaty and stuck to their desks.