I love my school, don’t get me wrong, but there’s plenty of things that I would love to change about it too!
Here is a list of ten things that are wrong at Winthrop, and some solutions to fix them!
1. We have less parking than a mall:
Why have a college, when it hardly has any parking? The local mall has more parking than Winthrop does, and that is not okay. Why should I have to park across a main highway, then walk half a mile just to get back to my dorm? This is a major issue. Realistically, Winthrop should make legion into a parking garage. That way we could have safe parking, with unlimited spots.
2. Mandatory Cultural events:
I get that we are a liberal arts school, and need to become “cultured”, but mandatory cultural events take a lot of time. At least make them fun! I don’t want to go listen to a speech for three hours, but I would love to watch a movie for two!
3. Mandatory ACAD 101:
ACAD as a whole isn’t awful but let’s talk about all those mandatory events. Who has the time to go to every involvement fair and every campus activity? I loathed attending these events as it was my first semester in college!
4. The new dining company:
I understand that Sodexo probably gave the lowest bid, which is why they were chosen, but we’ve been served cheeseburgers for five weeks straight at Thompson. Where’s the variety? They pride themselves on the “quality of life” but where is the quality in the food?
5. Lack of accessibility to wheelchair users:
Many buildings are accessible, but then you have buildings like Roddey and Margaret Nance. They may be accessible on the ground floor, but what about the others? What if you have a friend who lives on the top floor? It’s not fair to discriminate against the relationships of those with disabilities by prohibiting them from visiting and making friends.
6. They never cancel class:
Hurricane? Winthrop’s never heard of it. Tropical storm? Where? Winthrop would rather us all be stuck in our dorms when a hurricane hits then to allow us to evacuate with our families. Winthrop would rather be the only school in the state who hasn’t canceled class, then to listen to the governor when he declares a state of emergency.
7. When they lock you inside of Thompson:
If you’ve ever gone to Thompson for a late-night dinner, then you know what I’m talking about. Sometimes, they decide to lock you inside instead of telling people that they’re close. Alerting students to the closing time would just be to simple, so let’s make them concerned for their lives instead. Let’s be extreme and imagine this worst-case scenario. What if an intruder came in, and all the students were locked in? how would they leave? They wouldn’t.
8. How expensive the bookstore is:
If I wanted to pay $60 for a sweatshirt, I would go to Urban Outfitters, not my campus bookstore. Why should I pay $40 for a t-shirt, when I pay $20,000 a year to go here?
9. When campus police make changes to weekend parking in Faculty and staff without telling the students:
WUPO recently decided to change the hours for faculty and staff parking, without alerting students to this. Now, they are writing tickets for hundreds of dollars, when they never alerted us to this change. This was done purely to make money. Parking is already limited, so they’re making it even worse.
10. The amount of elementary school field trips that take place here:
What parents would want their kid to go on a field trip to university where adults can do whatever they want? Sure, let’s go look at that college kid having a mental breakdown. That sounds like so much fun.
Even thought there’s plenty of issues, I wouldn’t change my school for the world. I love Winthrop, and what it represents to me, they just have a few issues they need to work on.