Is anyone listening to the students at Pierce College? Does anyone care?
Our cafeteria was torn down, the food trucks are missing, clouds of roofing tar choke students as they make their way to class and our parking has been taken away, too.
There are more than 25,000 students who attend Pierce College, with 15,000 attending full time, and our needs are not being met.
Construction problems continue to plague our school as millions of dollars are being misspent.
It’s an admirable goal to want to rebuild the campus and provide state of the art buildings for future students.
But what about students who are attending school right now?
We will not benefit from all the improvements on campus, but we are willing to suffer through them.
All we ask in return is to be able attend our classes and care for our daily needs while on campus.
This is a very simple request.
But when we can’t find simple things like parking or food, it becomes increasingly difficult to have faith in the administration.
We have complained, yelled and shaken our heads in exasperation.
Are we being listened to or simply ignored as an inconvience?
Is it any wonder that we can’t get the construction right when the campus lets sprinklers water the soccer fields for five hours in the middle of the day?
We can’t even obey simple water conservation policies.
Is no one watching?
If we can’t even deal with small problems, how can we hope to solve larger ones?
This campus employes many highly paid administrators who are responsible for a variety of things around campus, as well as a cadre of individuals to oversee them.
Is anyone watching out for us, or have we simply fallen by the wayside?
How loud must our voices become before we garner some attention?
We, the students of Pierce College, want to be able to park without $35 fines. We want to be able to find food on campus whenever the campus is open. We want to attend classes without choking on plumes of tar.
And yes, we want to be able to walk across the soccer fields in the middle of the day without dodging sprinklers.
Faculty and administrators of Pierce, it’s time to do your jobs.
As you sit in your air-conditioned office three feet from your parking space remember the students
Students who had to hike half a mile to class through a cloud of vaporous tar only to sit in a stifling classroom where you can can’t turn on the air conditioner for fear of causing asthma attacks
As a result while they’re straining to hear your voice over the noise of nearby construction your lessons are lost in the white noise.
Stop removing things before having a substitution in place and start planning ahead.
Actions speak louder than words. Stop giving lip service about caring for students and start meeting our needs.
