We all want to make Loyola University a better place, one that functions so as to improve our stay here. Here are some suggestions to this end:
1. Clean the unused men’s lockers at the gym. Those lockers in use are fine, but many of the ones not utilized (by my estimate, about 30 percent of them) are filthy. They look as if they have not been washed in years. For obvious reasons, I say nothing about the women’s locker room, but, I have my suspicions. Cost? $20 to $50 or so in extra salaries per annum?
2. The two overhead sets of flags at the swimming pool (used by backstrokers to judge distance from the wall) are not equidistant from the two respective walls. This situation constitutes an accident waiting to happen. Measure the distance from the poles holding up these flags carefully, and set them according to official distances. Cost? Approximately $100 to $200?
3. Erect canopies at each building entrance so that people don’t get wet in the rain while they unfurl their umbrellas. For example, the side entrance to the library, near Miller Hall, could use this while the front entrance is fine in this regard. Cost? Several thousands of dollars for every building entrance on campus; I am thinking of canvas overhangs, but I’m not sure what is best.
4. Get shelters for those bicycles. They rust in the rain. Rusty bikes hurt our community. Either build roofs for them where they stand (cost? Several thousand dollars), or give the bikes a few parking spaces in each of the parking garages (cost? Whatever are the opportunities foregone by a dozen cars or so, I am not sure).
5. Ticket (or better yet, boot) automobiles that park over the lines and thus occupy two spaces. That carelessness is so annoying. However, make an exception for those parking spots at the corner of the garages, where parking over the lines does not impose an empty spot on our community. Cost? Negative: we will more fully utilize parking capacity, and collect a few bucks from tickets as well.
6. Reserve the bottom floor or two of both garages for professors. No students should be allowed to park there while classes are scheduled. If a professor can’t find a parking space and is late to class, some 20-30 students suffer. If a student cannot, the student and the student alone loses out. Many institutions of higher learning follow this practice. Cost? It will be negative; we will save money because fewer professors will be late to class. Of course, there is a danger here; the last thing we want to do is encourage faculty to show up on campus just a few minutes before their first class starts and then depart afterwards, only to return a few minutes before their next seminar, knowing they will have an easy time parking. But, at least, this suggestion ought to be considered by the university community.
7. The field in the Residence Quad is a muddy bog. Kids play soccer, Frisbee and rugby there. On nice days, they lie around on blankets and sun themselves there. They cannot do so unless the field is leveled, drainage is fixed and new grass put in. This may costs thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars, but I think it will be worthwhile in terms of student retention.
8. President Reagan famously said to Premier Gorbachev regarding the Berlin Wall, “Tear down this wall!” I now say to the Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., “Tear down the top two floors of the West Road garage you have just very unwisely built!” All too often, given the onset of my Alzheimer’s, I simply don’t remember where I parked my car. Previously, I would have to walk up and down only five floors to find it. Now, thanks to your horrid mismanagement of our campus, Fr. Wildes, I shall have to do so for seven floors. No, wait, scratch that last suggestion. I’m deliriously happy that our parking situation has been vastly improved.
Student retention is an ongoing concern for our university. All except my second suggestion (which may save us from a lawsuit) will make our campus more attractive for students, and, indeed, for all of us, at relatively low cost. And, of course, I was only being silly about my eighth suggestion.
Walter Block is the Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair in economics. He can be reached at
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These bicycles are locked onto one of the Biever Hall bike racks. It has the most space on campus allotted for bikes, but remains open to the elements. (MONICA VO/Staff Photographer)
