Miscommunication Leads to Confusion for Students

The construction zone at the Johnson Boulevard campus entrance.
(Photo by: Thomas Slinger)

By Thomas Slinger
Editor-in-Chief

From long checkouts at the grocery store to backed-up traffic on the highway, there is nothing more taxing in this world than a slight inconvenience.

The construction of the back parking lot at Rose State College has now become an inconvenience for students after continued delays.

“It’s really annoying if I’m being honest,” said Jeff Collins, business major. “It really affects my day because I have class in the gym 15 minutes after I have a class in the STEM building. Normally, I can drive my car around the campus and get there on time. But, with all the construction going on, sometimes it’s a struggle to get to class.”

This struggle is a sentiment shared by many throughout campus. In an informal poll conducted by the 15th Street News, 75% out of 25 students said that the construction has caused a negative impact on their education. In fact, most students were unaware of what was the purpose of the construction project.

Richard Andrews is the chief procurement officer and senior director of campus operations for Rose State College. He is responsible for overseeing construction projects and coordinating operations with vendors.

“What we are building is a roundabout connecting the north parking lot and Johnson Boulevard,” he said. “The project is expected to be finished by the end of September, and we are working very hard to try and get things done in a reasonable time.”

However, construction has dragged on longer than expected because the school has added several components to the project along the way.

“One of the things that we decided to do was make sure that all the sidewalks and curbs were compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act,” he said. “Another thing we decided to add was speed bumps that we expect to make the parking lot much safer to drive in ... as we have had a problem with speeding in that parking lot.”

Although these explanations for the delay make sense, they were not communicated effectively to students and have caused increasing frustration. This brings into question Rose State College’s use of the mass email system at its disposal. “I just want to be told what’s going on,” said Brittany Reagan, business major. “Like I have to tell the school most of my information, why can’t they reciprocate? Just give some updates on when this thing is going to be finished.”

Although the school did send out one email at the end of the spring semester, there haven't been any other notifications sent out to students regarding the construction.

“Generally, we don’t like to bother students with mass emails,” Andrews said. “Sending updates on the project was something that just hasn’t been brought up for whatever reason.”

Considering that school construction directly affects students, they hope that the college learns from this experience, and distributes information more effectively during future projects.