Free Speech Week is approaching fast, which has created a lot of debate and unrest on campus. Our new chancellor has been a major supporter of this, which has been a controversial subject for many students. No matter what your stance on this topic may be, there’s a few things that we probably all believe Chancellor Carol Christ (say that 10 times fast) should be working on instead of “Free Speech Week.”
1. Fixing the Dwinelle Hall bathrooms.
This really doesn’t need much of an explanation. Anyone that has experienced a class in Dwinelle (which is most of us) shudders at the thought of the smell and the lack of toilet paper. Serious changes need to be made to school bathrooms, and UC Berkeley should be at the forefront of that change.
2. The lack of seating in Moffitt Library.
Half of a UC Berkeley student’s time is spent looking for a chair in Moffitt and then leaving out of frustration or just sitting on the floor because they’re so tired of wandering around. Moffitt is a pretty big building with a lot of badly utilized floor space — $600,000 should be more than enough to sort this issue out.
3. Bringing back Crossroads Late Night.
It’s honestly a crime that Late Night was cut as a “budget improvement strategy.” If we have enough money for more police officers on campus, we probably have enough to feed the poor freshmen mozzarella sticks and chocolate chip pancakes at 1 a.m. #MakeCroadsGreatAgain
4. Putting more nap pods on campus.
It’s easy to forget we even have nap pods on campus because there are so few. Sleep leads to better mental health and alertness, so more nap pods would be perfect for the sleep-deprived population of students here. Who would want more “alt-right” speakers to come to campus when you could have more places to nap instead?
5. Doing away with all the strange spinny desks in Evans and other buildings.
Honestly, they’re just weird and no one seems to like them. They seem to roll and twist away from you when you try to sit in one. To make a long story short, desks shouldn’t make it more difficult for us to sit, period. Bring back our normal desks!
6. Bringing more dogs onto campus.
Random dog walkers and De-stress with Dogs are possibly the best things to ever happen to this campus, and it could be argued that Chancellor Christ should be putting most of her time and energy in bringing even more dogs onto this campus. A de-stressing dog floor in Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union? Designating Memorial Glade to be an official dog park? Literally just buy a bunch of dogs and let them run around campus? The opportunities are endless!
7. Keeping her students safe.
On a more serious note, many of the speakers who were invited — and the increased police presence on our campus — have left many students on campus feeling unsettled and unsafe. We know it’s easier said than done, but students shouldn’t feel threatened on their way to class.
We here at the Clog encourage you to exercise your right to free speech, but to also stay safe while doing it! Take care of yourself and remember that you belong here just as much as anyone else does.
