Commentary

Dear President Freeland,

Last week I was walking through Mugar Hall and I noticed the door frames were being repainted. If I say I liked the old color, can I get a few bucks knocked off my tuition bill? I never noticed many scratches on the door, so it must be simple vanity inspiring the spending of money on paint and services. Right?

I also noticed all of the new dormitories getting dishwashers put into the kitchens. If I say I’ll wash my dishes in the sink, can I return the dishwasher for cash? Or maybe I’ll just choose an apartment in an older building, like a St. Stephen Street room. Oops, I think they’ve been condemned.

I also noticed the spiffy new Customer Service Center, Lane Health Center and Office of Student Financial Services. Maybe next time if you asked what I thought about these changes, you’d find that I thought the money may be better spent on increasing the services of these offices. For instance, teach the Customer Service representatives how to provide service to customers, instead of sending them to another office. Or the services offered by Lane Health Center could be increased from simply knowing how to send you off to Beth Israel. As for refurbishing the Financial Services Office, I’m sure the thousands of students attending NU would appreciate a little of those funds tacked onto our financial aid awards. Maybe they would even appreciate it more than the 50 or so Financial Aid faculty members appreciate their new carpeting.

I understand the comment made recently in the Boston Globe explaining that a school must look nice to project itself in a good light to prospective students. And I guess we need to recruit as many as we can, right? But wait, didn’t we just admit a few hundred more freshmen than intended? And back in 2000, weren’t we also a couple hundred freshmen over quota? Seems to me, even before the transformation during the summer, NU had no problem attracting freshman. It seems to me, maybe NU could afford to give some money back to current students, as the university is getting a few hundred tuition bill payments more than expected. What is your salary again Mr. Freeland?

I do not mean to condemn the advisors, counselors, work study students or even painters who work in these offices and buildings. I do question why we are improving the looks of a school before addressing the things that really frustrate students. Why do the Customer Service Center employees get brand new desks and chairs when the four people sharing my university apartment must settle for a solitary broken love seat? I have never heard a student complain about the scratched paint on the door frames of their classroom buildings, but if I had a nickel for every time I heard a student question why we pay $34,000 a year for this school, I may be able to pay off one of my three loans.

I think that a university should be centered on the students. Is that wrong? There sure are a lot of us here; you’d think that our experience and satisfaction should be important to you, Mr. President. Maybe that’s not your department. Care to shuffle me elsewhere?

Maybe there is something I’ve missed, an organization that allows students to vote on these decisions to build new lab buildings or refurbish offices. Perhaps NU ran out of paper to print a flier about this. Maybe they ran out because for some reason each student needed to receive two Welcome Week flyers. Maybe I’ll return my extra one, and you can print it on that.

-Eliza Moore is a junior biology major.