Has this happened to you?
You sit down, pencil sharpened, Gator1 in hand - ready for your exam. Time begins, and promptly, large crashing noises begin out of nowhere.
On campus construction has struck again.
This happened to me during my second exam in Vertebrate Zoology, a class that you need all your focus to complete a test in time. The construction did not start until our exam had started. It was silent prior to our start. The construction is several floors above our room; however, the cranes, lifts and dropping of materials can be clearly heard through an entire wall of windows.
While it is understandable that UF must keep up with the demands students and faculty place on its physical structures, it is absurd that the construction should happen during classes, especially exams.
Understandably, it will happen. But, the university should respect the challenges that students face in testing situations - even when it is silent.
I challenge UF to rectify this situation. Although it is a challenge with a student population so large and the immense number of classes that occur each class hour, the problem should be addressed in some form. Maybe even by something so simple as shifting lunch breaks to allow for quiet in a building with many classes.
Carolyn Huntley
Fourth year entomology major at UF
