Student Publications
University of Houston
151C Communications Bldg
Houston, TX 77204-4015
713.743.5350

©1991-2007
Student Publications,
All rights reserved.

Last modified:

Contact:
ktruitt@uh.edu

Opinion

Renovations needed to improve safety

Mubaraka Saifee
Opinion Columnist 

Early this summer, I went over to the English department, and I saw a note taped to the door of my poetry class. It said, "12-2 p.m. class; wait outside." Although my classmates and I were not sure why we were waiting, we still stood in the hall in the Roy G. Cullen Building anticipating the beginning of class. 

I expected a creative beginning to that day's class. I thought our professor might tell us to enter the room with our eyes closed and let our other senses experience the room, but this was not the case. 

Our professor soon related to us what had happened after finding an unoccupied room that could contain the 16 of us: Pieces of ceiling had begun to fall and water had come pouring through the hole. It had been raining since early that morning, and water had leaked from the roof and seeped through the top floor. 

I can imagine the mayhem that must have caused in class. It may have even inspired a poem or two.

Coming from India, I know this to be an unfortunate and common occurance, especially during monsoon season, but this was the first time I'd heard of something like this happening in America and in a university. The English minor side of me saw the drama of the situation, but the pre-law side of me saw potential lawsuits.

I think a problem like this needs to be addressed immediately by the University before another incident like this occurs. Who knows if something worse could happen and result in someone getting hurt?

Professor James Cleghorn, who is teaching poetry this semester, said he was not too happy with the situation. 

"Why is the English department being left behind?" he said. "Are we becoming an obsolete discipline?"

His concerns are understandable. We see new buildings on campus everywhere, including the new Science and Engineering Building, the new garage and so forth. The Roy G. Cullen Building is one of the original buildings from when UH first opened its doors to college students. 

It was built soon after World War II and has undergone numerous renovations over the years, such as new carpeting, painting and classrooms with those fancy motion-sensitive lights. I think the time has come to do something major; I suggest razing the entire building and creating something new.

The other day, I noticed some writing on a section of cement in a Cullen restroom. "Concrete jungle," it said. Where else would you find a metaphor instead of a few choice four-letter words or a phone number?

Someone once said to me that you could tell a lot about a society by the way it treats its poets. Let's show the world what UH thinks by giving our poets and writers a quality building. 

Mubaraka Saifee, an opinion colunist for the Daily Cougar, 
can be reached at mubaraka_saifee@yahoo.com