Taking a glance at Flagler College, we see the breath taking campus, lovely fountains, and beautiful new plaza. The next addition to the Flagler College campus should be a nice large sign right in the center reading, “Tourists: Beware of being trampled by the Flagler student body from the hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m..”
Flagler College is too crowded. Every parking lot at Flagler has a trail of cars circling the lot trying to hunt down an open spot. The bike racks are crammed so tight they literally are stacked on top of each other, and students shouldn’t even bother trying to find a seat in the dining hall during the lunchtime hours of 12 p.m.-1 p.m..
The Flagler College website shows that students are paying about $20,000 a year to attend this school. Are we really getting what we pay for? Flagler boasts of its small population and a 20-to-1 student-teacher ratio, which I only have only observed in one of my classes. We can all agree on the fact that Flagler College is an absolutely stunning site. Ponce de Leon hall is the centerpiece of the campus, but inside, things aren’t so pretty for the girls. Students who are paying $7,420 a year to live on campus should not have to worry about termite feces falling through the cracked ceiling as they sleep, or trails of it left all around their bathroom sink. According to Orkin Pest Control, since the evidence of the bugs is so visible in the rooms, it is likely that a full-blown termite infestation has already occurred. While we’re on the topic of bugs, it’s also important not to forget the bed bugs that have been tormenting students in the new FEC dorms. Bed bugs are found in the cracks and crevices of beds and live by sucking the blood out of humans and leaving an irritated rash (Bed Bugs). Being sucked on by bugs is not quite what I had in mind for the ‘college experience’.
The dorms at Flagler are pretty spacious but there are not enough of them for the growing campus. Recently I received an email asking transfers and upper classmen if they would like to move out so they could move in more freshmen. One of the main reasons female students love Flagler College so much is because of the charm of Ponce De Leon hall and the privilege of living in the dorm. Asking students to leave after a year makes it sound like we’re just a number, and that Flagler needs to make more room for more money…I mean students, to come through next semester.
The bright side to some of these problems is that there are easy solutions. Termites could easily be taken care of by getting an exterminator to come in once a month and wipe them out. I think that if Flagler spent more money on expanding parking and less on palm trees for the tourists to snap pictures of then we would be making some progress. Bike racks could easily be multiplied in the breezeways and the dining hall issue could be taken care of by organizing the tables in a more space efficient way to make room for more. The issue of Flagler being over populated needs to be better regulated by the school. There is a simple solution: stop accepting more students than you can house. It’s silly that they have to ask upperclassmen to leave so they can fit in more students. Flagler just opened new dormitories to house students, but maybe it is time to add a few more.
Flagler College offers an excellent education to the students, and if the standard of living were as high as that of instruction then there would be no need for complaints. With quick-fix solutions to the bug and space management problems, Flagler would be much improved. As to the population problem, Flagler is either expanding too quickly or not fast enough, depending on your priorities for campus size and ideal student population. Contrary to popular belief, size really does matter.
