Whited Sepulchers
The Academic Building is kind of the spiritual epicenter of the A&M campus. The Century Tree, where many (thousands, I guess) of Aggies have proposed to their future spouses is out front to the left as you look at the building. The statue of Sul Ross is directly in front of the building. Silver Taps, where we commemorate and honor our dead every month, is also held out front.
Campus tours bring visitors into the rotunda to see the inside of this historic building. One place they will NOT bring tours is just down the hall on the first floor where the Hispanic Studies Grad student lab is in room 126. This is where we have access to computers and a printer and are able to print up our papers and projects. The idea is also that we also have a place here to relax between teaching our classes and attending the classes that are taught to us.
Since I’ve been in the department as a grad student for the past 2+ years the grad lab has looked like this (see the first two attached pictures). As you can see, the extent of the repair would go beyond some grad students pitching in a little money, buying paint, and sprucing up the wall. The tiles that are still on the wall are acoustic tiles that crumble to the touch.
I’ve been told that the department is in the process of requesting that this wall/window be finished, but that request has to make it through the building proctor up to the Division of Facilities.
As you might imagine, it’s a bummer to go in there and look at this half-finished area. We know where we stand as a department and as a group of students when we’re paying fees (more every semester) to maintain apparently everything else around campus except for the space we’re assigned. The environment does have an impact on how people perceive their place in an academic system and how they perform. But don’t take my word for it. These are the words written by Dr. Robert Gates, who was President of A&M before going to serve as Secretary of Defense under 2 presidential administrations:
Dear Members of the Texas A&M Family,
A university’s excellence is and always will be measured, first and foremost, by the quality of its programs, students and faculty. Its built environment – from buildings and other structures to the space that surrounds and contains them – must be their equal.
The quality of Texas A&M University’s facilities must reflect the quality of the people and programs they house.
Dr. Robert Gates (then-President of Texas A&M) in a cover-letter on the University’s Master Plan
So, we’re either people of really poor quality or our facilities have fallen behind.
I’ve heard that we’ve got a new head of the Physical Plant Department who’s going to put some energy in to fixing some things up around campus. I hope this space will fit into his immediate plans. Before Aug 25th would be nice.
