Luke Whitehouse
@Lwhitehouse12
Springfield College boasts many beautiful things – such as the athletic facilities, the new Health Sciences Center and the scenery of Western Massachusetts. But for students, some minor changes could make Alden Street even better. The Springfield Student asked people around campus: If you could fix something on campus, what would you change?
Junior Emily Zambarano cited the confusion over student parking. Due to a variety of factors, designated parking lots have changed each year – making it hard for students to know where to park.
“The parking here is something that I would change,” Zambarano said. “The fact that we do the parking shuffle every year is confusing. Why can’t we just have a designated lot next to buildings for people living there?”
Parking isn’t the only gripe that students have, however.
Whether you’re an art major, a health science major or a journalism major, printing is a necessity for all students on campus. Many classes require assignments to be printed and some even printed in color.
For junior Haley Livesay, it’s time to bring back color printing.
“I think my change would be the color printing around campus because it got taken away this year,” Lievesay said. “We can only print in the Bio lab and that closes at 5 p.m. every day. It’s not open on the weekends. So it kind of limits us some time to print.”
And with many students having busy schedules, limited time to print can be a struggle – which can have ramifications.
“If you’re taking a class that’s based on something where you need to print, pictures and color or anything like that, if you can’t get that resource, then it can affect your grade,” Livesay said. “It’s 2023, we should be able to have printing.”
Shifting from printing to something many students both value and need: food. Almost every undergraduate student on campus uses a meal plan. This includes Cheney Dining Hall and the options in the Flynn Student Union.
For those who want to eat healthy though, it can be a challenge.
Cross country and track athlete Brady Cote believes Springfield should offer healthier options.
“I think we should definitely have healthier food options,” Cote said. “In Cheney Dining Hall, any time you want to get any type of vegetable excluding the salad bar, everything is swimming in either oil or butter, which kind of defeats the purpose of what you’re going for.”
When asked if the school could make healthier options for students more accessible, Cote immediately responded:
“Absolutely!”
Cote continued, “If you just have steamed vegetables versus something with butter or oil, you can go for that healthy substitution there. You could do grilled vegetables and there’s other ways to do it that I just don’t think they’re looking into. They’re going with what they’ve seen worked in the past, but that’s not what all the athletes want here or anybody wants here.”
Springfield College has many good qualities about it, but there is always room for improvement. It’s essential for the college administration to engage with students, faculty and staff to identify specific areas that need improvement and to create a strategic plan for addressing those issues. If the college is willing to work more with the student body and listen to their concerns, it will improve the life of everyone on campus.