They’re almost everywhere on campus: the dust, the tractors, the truck lifts and the wheel loaders. Studying on a construction site has become our reality.
The NSU campus is expanding and improving by leaps and bounds. While this is a good thing for the university and its future, the effect on students can be highly problematic. It’s important for school administrators to communicate the details of upcoming construction projects to students.
Campus construction can be a nuisance for students. Over the semester, a student can get used to walking or driving a certain way to class because it’s convenient. But one day, without warning, they’ll find their usual path closed off due to construction.
The confusion of many students about these construction projects should be a concern to university administrators. I have spoken with many students who say that they have frequently discovered new construction blocking their usual routes to class.
The entrance into NSU along SW 30th Street was blocked for weeks — not only on campus, but also across the street.
When the Parker Building was under construction for several weeks during the fall 2012 semester, the route to the bathrooms on the first floor was blocked off for several weeks, causing lots of complaints and consternation.
The lack of communication between NSU Facilities Management and students needs to improve. One mass e-mail, days after construction projects have already begun, will not suffice.
NSU Facilities Management is in charge of all campus maintenance, operations, transportation, renovations and construction. They are an integral part of daily life on campus, but they seem to have minimal, if any, contact with students. This should change. Students should be supplied with all the information necessary to have a successful college experience.
Special attention should be paid to commuter students, who suffer the most from new construction projects. These students already have enough construction to deal with elsewhere. Traffic congestion is a seemly worsening problem along University Drive, the expansion of 595 is apparently never-ending, and new construction is always popping up around Broward College.
It is vital that university administrator communicate with students about future construction projects. Nobody wants NSU to turn into Construction U.
