Dolores Umbridge may have said it best:
"Progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged. Let us preserve what must be preserved, perfect what can be perfected and prune practices that ought to be prohibited."
While this may have meant trouble brewing for the students at Hogwarts, it takes on a whole new meaning when applied to the University.
For the four (and a half) years I have been at Auburn, progress has meant a new student center, new Village dorms, a new arena, much-needed soccer and track facilities and the state-of-the-art Shelby Center.
I applaud the University for constantly striving to improve Auburn's campus and image, always pushing for bigger and better facilities to better serve the student body.
There comes a point, though, when all this progress is overshadowed by the literally crumbling state of other campus mainstays, like the Haley Center or Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum classrooms.
Are we, as a University, expanding so quickly that we can't even begin to maintain the buildings we use every day?
I remember my first college visit to Auburn, walking around with my mom and a few other high schoolers, listening to a student recruiter point out different aspects of campus.
As we walked to the Eagles' Nest at the top of Haley Center, they told us a majority of our classes would be in this building, describing it as the center of activity.
What should they say now, when the "center of activity" has chunks of concrete falling?
Another mainstay on campus, Beard-Eaves Memorial Colisuem, houses the entire kinesiology department and is plagued with problems, said John Schissler, employee in the kinesiology department.
Pipes burst on a regular basis, shutting down classrooms until they can be fixed. There is mold in many of the offices and lab spaces, some so severe that it has almost compromised research. Structurally, things are just beginning to sag and rust.
There are even lab areas that have brand new air conditioning units sitting uninstalled for weeks at a time because no one has come out to increase the power to run the new units.
However, Schissler said the repairs have been moving along at a faster pace in recent months, though the problems still disrupt classes regularly.
During the summer, a floor panel in the L building cracked because the soil eroded away beneath it, shutting it down for the afternoon.
While all of these problems are the result of regular wear and tear, these are major buildings that are used by a majority of students.
And with regular tuition increases and required meal plans, why are there no funds to pay for necessary repairs to keep our students safe?
Are we, as Umbridge said, making progress for the sake of progress, building beyond our means to make campus look shiny and new, while older buildings are simply being forgotten?
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