Can you relate to this? You're in the Glen Marketplace or Newell Dining Hall. You've finished your chicken patty or luke-warm slice of pizza and it's time for dessert. You stand up and walk over to the dessert table.
From a distance, it looks scrumptious. Generous slices of moist dark cake with pink icing. Piles of strawberry shortcake and carrot cake.< P> You hope you saved plenty of room for dessert. But when you take a closer look, something doesn't seem right. You hesitate. Then you touch it. Your cake is hard as a brick.
Time and time again, the dining halls disappoint their patrons. In the Glen the other day, my friend wrote a note to Dining Services on their feedback card: "I'd rather you serve no cake at all, instead of stale cake." But why is that worth a commentary? Because stale cake is emblematic of a larger problem: As the University [choose your adjective: grows, develops, expands, improves, melts down] for the future, it's the little things that matter to current students.
You've probably spent 20 minutes looking for a parking spot. You've probably trudged up the stairs when an elevator was broken. You've probably scratched your head when confronted with a confusing University announcement sent via e-mail.
The University Senate is debating faculty workload and revisions to the faculty handbook. President Caret and company are pushing the university system for additional, sustained funding to support enrollment growth. The administration is preparing for a major capital campaign.
But in the end, it comes back to stale cake -- the little things. It seems like the gripes are getting louder and louder this year: "Fine, Towson is going to kick ass in 25 years. But what about right now? We're going to graduate before any of this growth happens." The administration should keep these complaints in mind as they prepare for Towson 2010. After all, if you're a student reading this commentary, you probably won't be here in 2010.
That's why the little things are so big. After enough days of stale cake, students form an impression about the dining hall -- and an impression about the University. (Is that a stretch? You decide.)
Of course, it goes without saying that some of the little things are already getting done. The sidewalks get cleared quickly (too quickly!) by Facilities Management after it snows. Webmail fails less frequently thanks to an Office of Technology Services upgrade. But there are some other little things that would make a big difference in student life. Fix the format of the Daily Digest, improve the campus shuttle schedules, offer more social events on campus, establish a coherent University-wide communication plan, stop computer server crashes, install card readers at residence hall entrances and inform students way in advance that a class is only offered once a year (or once every two years).
And please, stop serving stale cake.
Brian Stelter is a sophomore mass communication and social sciences major and The Towerlight's news editor.
|
|
|
| Home | Copyright Brian Stelter |