For years, outsiders have called Mississippi State a cow college. Before, this never really bothered me. I would just say, “Yeah, we are and proud of it too.”
But lately I have noticed that not only are we a cow college, but we look like a cow college, too. Every day on my way to class, I have to dodge and weave to try and avoid the potholes littering the campus streets. I feel like I am driving through a minefield in a Third World country instead of going to class.
We already get the shaft when it comes to parking. Is it really necessary to have us drive on roads that are so riddled with potholes they look like Swiss cheese?
Take the gravel pit for example. Not only do we not even get to park on a paved surface, but now we can barely get in or out of the poor excuse for a parking lot. A hole big enough to hide a Land Rover has developed where the gravel meets the pavement. Since when did getting to class involve mud flaps and all-terrain tires?
I just do not see why we should have to put up with this. Every semester I give the university these nice little four-digit checks to ensure my education. I should be worried about my undergraduate degree rather than the undercarriage of my car.
We keep building these big expensive dormitories that cost more than an off-campus apartment in the name of advancing our university. The university has become so worried about bigger and better developments for pictures in a brochure. Our school can look absolutely fantastic on paper, but when visitors get lost in a pothole the size of Texas, what good does it do us?
Bad roads affect all of us. Everyone from President Foglesong to the teachers to the students have to use them. We may be a cow college, but do we have to have backwoods roads?