Stairs to…nowhere?

The removal of the stairs in front of the Starr Building might have been a bad idea

The stairs in front of the Starr Building have suddenly and mysteriously vanished.

I am entering my junior year here at Ferris. I have become very familiar with this campus and have grown accustomed to everything about it. This being said, I was in shock when I walked to my first class in the Starr Building and discovered that the stairs that have been there for as far back as I can remember were gone.

Maybe I don’t handle change well, but there are other reasons the removal of these steps have bothered me.

There are many students that have classes in the Starr Building, which means there is a lot of foot traffic in and around that building. In addition to the stairs, there was also a ramp entrance, which is now the only entrance. I believe this poses a problem.

With only one entrance and students approaching the building from all sides, there have been problems with congestion and “traffic jams.” Students are forced to try to walk in and out of the building while packed together like sardines.

The stairs provided a second option. They were wide enough to allow students to walk up and down while giving others the option to use the ramp. Now there is only one option and students are forced to push their way through the mob coming out of Starr and the other mob trying to get into Starr.

I understand there may have been problems with the steps. They were cracked in some areas and there was a possibility of students falling on them in the winter months. These problems probably would not have been that hard to remedy.

If built right, a solid concrete set of steps could have helped resist cracks and keeping up on salting and pouring sand could have helped prevent winter accidents.

Overall, removing the steps seems to have just created more of a hassle for students. Starr was already crowded and now it’s even worse. Hopefully another entrance can be built in the future to alleviate the now unrelenting impediment of students. n