After reading your review of Warren Towers yesterday, I realize that you left one very important thing out: Warren Towers is in desperate need of a renovation (‘Not much privacy in central, social Warren Towers, residents say,’ March 24, pg. 1). Being the home to the majority of Boston University freshmen, the university should no doubt renovate this monolithic structure to make it more student-friendly.
For starters, the desk that I now sit at was not designed for a computer. In almost all Warren rooms, computer wires are strewn across desks stretching to various surge protectors and splitters. I’m no expert, but this looks like a fire hazard. It also seems as though the wooden chair I sit on wasn’t designed for a human body.
Furthermore, the blinds hardly keep out light or thermal heat. As a result, if you face east, your room might be heated to ungodly temperatures early in the morning.
If a renovation were carried out, I’d also expect for there to be movable furniture so that there could be some variation from room to room. Before I changed the position of my bed (the only thing in the room which moves), I would lie down to sleep at night and think of the myriad people who are lying down in the exact same room, in the exact same way; this is a disturbing thought to go to bed with.
On that subject, better bed frames and mattresses are also needed. Camp-style metal bed frames and plastic blue mattresses, along with the monotonous room positioning, contribute to the overall ‘prison-feel’ of Warren Towers.
The Warren dining hall, too, could use some renovation. Consistently stable tables, classier seats and a couple of large TVs receiving the satellite TV that the smoking lounge gets would be nice.
After looking at some online pictures of Warren, I have discovered that the game room, which now consists of two ghetto pool tables, a broken air hockey table and a foosball table, used to be home to a multitude of arcade games. Where did those games go and why?
Warren Towers is good, however, in that it creates a sense of community and is at a prime location. But I still can’t figure out whether the costs outweigh the benefits. Perhaps BU should take a hint from its competitor, NYU, and give the second best housing to freshmen, the worst housing to sophomores and better housing to juniors and seniors. That might help the retention rate a bit.
Since we all know these renovations aren’t going to happen, let me also suggest moving Commonwealth Avenue so that it runs adjacent to Storrow Drive. We could then spread soil on top of the pavement, plant grass and trees, maybe purchase some sculptures and create something that would truly help the BU community: a campus.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
