Are UL's Buildings Up To Scratch?

[billbeck451]

last year when I visited campus with my wife and children I was very impressed with the amount of facilies upgrades that I saw. It was probable the most work that I had seen on campus in many years.

Also, the new buildings that have been constructed (business building, parking garage) are very impressive

[Cajunbander]

_ I used to HATE Griffin! Bathrooms had a permanent stink, the classrooms were pale yellow and just made me want to sleep. _

It seems it hasn't changed since you had class in there. They need more ways to get up and down. It seems like if your class isn't on the first floor, its on the 4th, I'm not even sure if they have classes on the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th floors. (Joking, of course) But man, it takes 5 minutes to get from 5 down to ground because of the overcrowding in the stairwell. The middle one of the three is barely big enough to fit two people shoulder to shoulder.

My building, old Mouton, (very, very, old Mouton.) It the worse. The windows seems permanently shut, there's no central HVAC system, so we have to rely on the very old and noisy window ac units to cool us off. Most of the time they don't get used because they over power the teacher, and nobody is smart enough to turn them on when the classrooms aren't being used. There's also what seems like mildew and the black mold of death clinging on the ceilings. What I can't figure out, is why they build two seemingly meaningless walls in old Mouton.

If you're not familiar with old Mouton, the main halls are shaped like TT. On either end of the main hallway (the top of the Ts) there are the two stairwells. Well, for some unknown reason, they put a wall on either side of the main hallway, right in front of the stairwells. For the life of me, I can't figure out what they're for. Any ideas?

These types of things aren't going to keep me from getting my degree, but they are distractions that I don't like. (Except for the useless walls, those are just weird.)

[jazzpop]

HLG was new when I was in school and it was a wreck then. And yes, the restrooms had already developed a permanent stink. I recently took a Continuing Education class in a very well equipped "smart classroom." the state of the art, computer integrated projection system, when activated, displayed this message..."The lens-apeture filter must be replaced
every 100 operating hours to avoid catastrophic damage to the unit. It has been 437 operation hours since the filter was replaced." Many of UL's physical plant issues stem from
from terrible maintanence. Peeny-wise and pound foolish.

[awadelewis]

Many of UL's physical plant issues stem from
from terrible maintanence. Peeny-wise and pound foolish. _

It's poor design and poor maintenance. HLG is good example. The design of that building was outdated by 1972 standards; let alone by what's considered state of the art today. Add in nearly 40 years worth of deferred maintenance and you get what you see today. It is as bad for those of us who try to teach in that building as it is for the students. I feel for the departments who have offices in HLG as they're as cramped and uncomfortable as some of the classrooms.

Other buildings on campus are as bad or worse. Somebody already mentioned Mouton. Fletcher is the worst designed academic building I've seen on any of the campuses where I was a student or in all of the years that I did campus recruiting while I was in industry. The entire Student Union complex needs to be leveled and redone as it reminds me of a poorly designed high school rather than a facility for a University w/ 17,000 students. Almost all of the buildings on campus show the adverse affects of deferred maintenance.

OTOH, there are positives. The new CMPS building was done right. It was a major change for the good for those of us who are grad students in that department after so many years in that crap-hole on the 4th floor of the Conf. Center. The add-on to the Business School was nicely done as well. Burke-Hawthorne will be a nice facility when they get it done. Hopefully we can get past the economic downturn and the poobahs and nabobs over in BR don't hose us up too bad on the budget so that the school can fix the rest of these problems.

[Cajunbander]

_ HLG was new when I was in school and it was a wreck then. And yes, the restrooms had already developed a permanent stink. I recently took a Continuing Education class in a very well equipped "smart classroom." the state of the art, computer integrated projection system, when activated, displayed this message..."The lens-apeture filter must be replaced
every 100 operating hours to avoid catastrophic damage to the unit. It has been 437 operation hours since the filter was replaced." Many of UL's physical plant issues stem from
from terrible maintanence. Peeny-wise and pound foolish. _

I've noticed all of the projectors in the smart classrooms I have class in display that same message.