Oklahoma City University was founded in the early years of the 20th century under names such as Epworth College, Methodist University of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma City College.
For over a century, our school has been one of Oklahoma’s highest and most respected learning institutions. However, with age comes consequences, as with the passage of time.
Several students have raised their voices to seemingly no response as the university’s infrastructure is infrequently inspected.
Students and faculty may have noticed that, if attending this year’s Banned Books Week celebration in the campus’s Dulaney-Browne library, the elevators had a sign indicating they had recently broken down. Fortunately, enough people had noticed the library’s elevators’ inactivity that the school swiftly restored them to working order.
According to library staff, this is not often the speed at which elevators get fixed. In fact, last year, the library’s elevators broke down multiple times over just one year.
However, more than mechanical infrastructure could have brought attention to its gaze. The school’s maintenance workers frequently visit campus student housing in places such as Methodist Hall.
Students have experienced bathtubs that don’t drain, walked into bedrooms with holes in the walls before unpacking, and erosion in the underground garage. Any students who frequently park under Methodist Hall may notice that discolored concrete walls have been eroded over the years in the backmost areas of the parking space.
That’s not even to talk about the erosion under the campus. The school’s plumbing has experienced several leaks inside and under buildings.
If you are ever walking around campus outside on a beautiful sunny day with no clouds in the sky and notice water swelling in the street, that’s likely a pipe burst underground.
The water then flows out so quickly it can’t sink into the dirt underneath the campus. Instead, it takes the path of least resistance to burst out of cracks and potholes. These leaks then contribute to the erosion of OCU’s foundations.
Oklahoma City University students pay money to ensure everything this campus needs, from professors and books in the library to chairs we sit on every day in classrooms.
We should expect to be able to walk around campus without concern for the school’s crumbling infrastructure. As Oklahoma City University continues to uphold its legacy of academic excellence, it is imperative that the institution also prioritizes the maintenance and improvement of infrastructure.
The voices of students and faculty who raise concerns must be heard.
An ever-growing campus’s physical and educational well-being must be built from the ground up for a resilient future. Infrastructural decay is a critical issue that all students and faculty should be aware of in the coming years.
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