Jonah Lewis is a sophomore majoring in political science and sociology.
The array of cranes and union workers crowding Foggy Bottom make it obvious that GW is under construction – painfully obvious. The looming Science and Engineering Hall keeps on rising while fundraising for it does not, while our new, almost unbelievable, #onlyatgw $33 million Textile Museum is growing up before our eyes.
Construction – the physical embodiment of your (distressingly high) student debt – is controversial.
When you’re building big, expensive things, questions arise and goals need to be met. Will colleges get into a lot of debt to pay for them? Will you be able to fundraise successfully for them? Are they the best use of tight campus space? In GW’s case, the answers are yes, no and probably not.
But even more, these projects are a headache for those who traverse the Foggy Bottom Campus every day, creating new complexities for getting around.
With crowds of students on the frustratingly narrow sidewalks, getting to class efficiently and safely was already difficult on a good day – and now it seems impossible.
Crossing the main stretch of H Street near the Marvin Center and Kogan Plaza has become a uniquely harrowing experience. After you push past the crowds lining up outside Captain Cookie to cross the street, it’s a miracle if you don’t cause a pile up of ambulances, construction vehicles and 16-wheelers. It doesn’t help that our new “superdorm” shut down I Street.
Getting around the other construction sites on campus is less perilous, but still wildly inconvenient. The sidewalks by Fulbright Hall or Corcoran Hall? Their closings creates the need to wildly calculate just how you can get around campus fastest. Sidewalk space is a hot commodity as we all fight our way to where we are going.
But, hey, I have some good news.
The H street sidewalk by the “superdorm” has avoided closing down completely, which would have utterly shutdown down the heart of campus. At least the feel of the scaffolding-covered sidewalk gives all of our New Yorkers a taste of home.
Added perks of crowded narrow sidewalks are you can catch an occasional whiff of sorority women’s Gucci perfume you only wish you could afford, and you can enjoy the close proximity to well-dressed gay men.
Nonetheless, I think we need some established etiquette for getting around campus, at least as long as this construction continues to overwhelm. Here’s some advice: When possible, use University Yard, Kogan Plaza or Square 80 to get away from the cramped sidewalks. You will even get to enjoy our city campus’ wide open “green spaces” in the process.
Walk no more than two people abreast. If you feel the need for all five of your friends to walk next to each other on a two-foot wide sidewalk, urban campus life is probably not for you.
Most important of all: walk on the right. Cars do it. Why shouldn’t you?
