2008 Woodie Awards
Letters to the Editor
Issue date: 10/29/07 Section: Opinions
Housing manages projects badly
To the Editor:
I wish to complain about the terrible management of MTSU Housing. Everyone believes the Wood Hall/Felder Hall dorm will be demolished at the end of this spring. However, it is being painted, beginning with the first floor of Felder. I have asked Housing [and Residential Life], attempting to ascertain that it will, in fact, be torn down after this school year, yet no one was willing to confess the fact.
In the meantime, Felder continues to be painted. Unwilling to sit and watch such wasteful nonsense, I called Housing Maintenance a third time, when I was transferred to Richard Smith, [Associate Director of Housing Administration]. Smith proceeded with the poorest conversation I have ever had. He stopped just short of lying to me, blatantly refusing to answer my question. He told me that projects are driven by funding, and prospects are always uncertain and as the economy changes, projects are pushed back. In the meantime, Felder continues to be painted.
We discussed various issues of the painting, mainly how it was unnecessary, and how the paint job that is being done is actually making the place look worse. Instead of off-white and blue, we have entirely off-white. Even duller, even less attractive. Asked about this, and whether he'd seen the progress, Smith said he had and that he liked it.
I turned the topic back to whether Wood/Felder would be demolished. He repeated himself: projects are driven by funding. Logically, this means that Wood/Felder is being painted because there is not sufficient funding to demolish it. When asked if this was the case, he replied angrily, "That is not what I said. I said that projects are driven by funding." I was wondered why he was intentionally dodging the question. "Okay, then, so we do have the funding for it." Logically, if he will not simply say that the funding is missing, then it means the funding is not missing. His response was even more acrid: "Now you're trying to put words in my mouth. Again, projects are driven by funding."
To the Editor:
I wish to complain about the terrible management of MTSU Housing. Everyone believes the Wood Hall/Felder Hall dorm will be demolished at the end of this spring. However, it is being painted, beginning with the first floor of Felder. I have asked Housing [and Residential Life], attempting to ascertain that it will, in fact, be torn down after this school year, yet no one was willing to confess the fact.
In the meantime, Felder continues to be painted. Unwilling to sit and watch such wasteful nonsense, I called Housing Maintenance a third time, when I was transferred to Richard Smith, [Associate Director of Housing Administration]. Smith proceeded with the poorest conversation I have ever had. He stopped just short of lying to me, blatantly refusing to answer my question. He told me that projects are driven by funding, and prospects are always uncertain and as the economy changes, projects are pushed back. In the meantime, Felder continues to be painted.
We discussed various issues of the painting, mainly how it was unnecessary, and how the paint job that is being done is actually making the place look worse. Instead of off-white and blue, we have entirely off-white. Even duller, even less attractive. Asked about this, and whether he'd seen the progress, Smith said he had and that he liked it.
I turned the topic back to whether Wood/Felder would be demolished. He repeated himself: projects are driven by funding. Logically, this means that Wood/Felder is being painted because there is not sufficient funding to demolish it. When asked if this was the case, he replied angrily, "That is not what I said. I said that projects are driven by funding." I was wondered why he was intentionally dodging the question. "Okay, then, so we do have the funding for it." Logically, if he will not simply say that the funding is missing, then it means the funding is not missing. His response was even more acrid: "Now you're trying to put words in my mouth. Again, projects are driven by funding."
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