Buildings that received the most problem reports:
School of Business building: 55
T. Edward Temple Building: 33
Sanger Hall: 19
Oliver Hall/Education: 17
How faculty members feel, in general, about the classrooms where they teach:
“Dissatisfied,” “Very dissatisfied” or “More dissatisfied than satisfied”: 56 (41%)
“Satisfied,” “Very satisfied” or “More satisfied than dissatisfied”: 65 (47%)
“About equally satisfied and dissatisfied”: 17 (12%)
Sample of anonymous comments from survey respondents:
“The desks for students are uncomfortable, too often bolted to the floor, and counterproductive to the kind of ‘learning-centered’ environment this university purports to embrace.”
“The rooms are bleak, windowless; some have noisy air circulation. In one of my classrooms, I can almost hear the words of the prof in the room next door.”
“Temperature has often been too hot or too cold; there have been gnats or small insects (distracting); equipment is sometimes inadequately updated; one of my rooms does not have desks . most rooms not inviting for seminars and discussion classes.”
“Bathrooms approach health hazard stage.”
“Rooms are configured like a high school, not a college.”
“Many chairs are broken or wobble a lot. There are handbills all over the bulletin boards and in the cord strip above the board (they look very trashy). The blinds are beat and tattered. The room’s appearance is far from appealing. It looks like a room in a second-class institution (or worse).”
“Frequently the hallways are filled with trash and recycling. The restrooms are not cleaned and re-stocked frequently enough. It gives visitors a poor impression, and it is demoralizing for faculty and staff who teach and have offices there.”
“Facilities on the Monroe Park campus (with the exception of the Life Sciences building) are wretched. They distract significantly from the learning environment. The campus environment certainly illustrates the central idea the rich get richer–Life Sciences and Engineering have palatial classrooms while the rest struggle along (I have limited optimism about the quality of the classrooms in the renovated Hibbs building). Perhaps enough of our students are not well-enough acculturated to realize the disservice being done them.”
Source: Faculty Senate survey of VCU’s physical teaching environment. The results are at http://www.people.vcu.edu/~dream/fs2006surveysummary.html