Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step.” This has very little to do with my point, but it is a killer hook.
Have you noticed anything weird about the stairs on Mississippi State University’s campus? I noticed something, and it has been driving me insane.
Every set of stairs on this campus has a completely different height per step. The steps in front of Critz Hall, for example, have an average height of 5 3/4 inches per step. The stairs behind Old Main Academic Center are approximately 6 inches tall.
For reference, the average step height in America is 7 1/2 inches.
These ridiculously undersized steps require each person to make a calculated decision. One strategy would be to take the steps two at a time, which is, decidedly, not ideal, as people might think you want to impress them.
The only other reasonable option would be to take the steps one at a time, which, of course, leads to the embarrassing half-step shuffle to reach the next step.
Why should students at this great university have to worry about step height, of all things? Griffis Hall is the exception, with a step height of 7 1/2 inches. This sweet-spot allows for the unequalled ability to run downstairs in the case of oversleeping, fires or an axe-murderer (unlikely, but always worth planning for).
Of course, not much can be done at this point to fix the vertically challenged steps, but perhaps some efforts can be made to avoid this issue in the future. A regulated step height, for example, could head off the issue at the source. I will be the first to request the 7 1/2 average, as all my escape plans for worst-case-scenarios are hinged on the stairs being that height.
