2008 Woodie Awards
Will That Jackhammer Sound Be On The Final?
Issue date: 10/8/07 Section: Editorials
- Page 1 of 1
While the construction of the Glueck Center Beit Midrash and the Mendel Gottesman Library will bring much needed expansion to the Wilf Campus, the projects do have a serious downside for students and faculty. Currently, many students are unable to hear professors in class or concentrate on research in the library due to the deafening noises of this construction. What's worse, the daily shiurim delivered by Roshei Yeshiva, heard by students and thousands online at YUTorah.org, are rendered nearly unintelligible to all listeners by the nearby jackhammering.
While we understand that it's important to consider the future of the University and its endeavors, such plans should not come at such inconvenience to current students. At over $40,000 per year, it is completely inappropriate to prevent our students from attaining the quality of education for which they came to Yeshiva. This dilemma, though plain to all, is not easily solvable. Although, YU officials made sure that heavy construction on campus took place over the summer to avoid conflict; we appreciate their efforts but they don't negate the siege of Furst Hall and the Mendel Gottesman Library.
So what can be done to resolve the problem? One option is installing soundproof windows in all classrooms in Furst Hall. Already, there are heavier windows on the building's top floor encasing the Chancellor's Suit, and upgrading the other windows is long overdue. An urban environment, Washington Heights is a very noisy neighborhood. Our classrooms, sometimes only tens of feet away from local apartments, should be made soundproof regardless of construction. Alternatively, improving air conditioning in often stuffy Furst Hall would allow windows to stay closed and construction noise, muted.
As for the library, solutions are limited. Although books cannot be transported to a different location, other study locations on campus should be created. Already this semester, students in need of computers and quiet have been told by instructors in Belfer Hall that student computer labs are not available during certain hours. If that's the case, resources must be used to procure an academic atmosphere for our current students.
Other solutions by administrators with greater knowledge of the campus are no doubt feasible. Yet, no matter which solutions are implemented, one thing is for sure: current educations cannot be marginalized for the sake of their successors. Our education is costly; and administrators must respond to these issues, at all costs.
While we understand that it's important to consider the future of the University and its endeavors, such plans should not come at such inconvenience to current students. At over $40,000 per year, it is completely inappropriate to prevent our students from attaining the quality of education for which they came to Yeshiva. This dilemma, though plain to all, is not easily solvable. Although, YU officials made sure that heavy construction on campus took place over the summer to avoid conflict; we appreciate their efforts but they don't negate the siege of Furst Hall and the Mendel Gottesman Library.
So what can be done to resolve the problem? One option is installing soundproof windows in all classrooms in Furst Hall. Already, there are heavier windows on the building's top floor encasing the Chancellor's Suit, and upgrading the other windows is long overdue. An urban environment, Washington Heights is a very noisy neighborhood. Our classrooms, sometimes only tens of feet away from local apartments, should be made soundproof regardless of construction. Alternatively, improving air conditioning in often stuffy Furst Hall would allow windows to stay closed and construction noise, muted.
As for the library, solutions are limited. Although books cannot be transported to a different location, other study locations on campus should be created. Already this semester, students in need of computers and quiet have been told by instructors in Belfer Hall that student computer labs are not available during certain hours. If that's the case, resources must be used to procure an academic atmosphere for our current students.
Other solutions by administrators with greater knowledge of the campus are no doubt feasible. Yet, no matter which solutions are implemented, one thing is for sure: current educations cannot be marginalized for the sake of their successors. Our education is costly; and administrators must respond to these issues, at all costs.
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