Friday, March 2, 2007
Recently, The University of Kansas unloaded more than $100,000 to renovate administrative offices in Strong Hall. Across campus and at the University of Kansas Medical Center, $300 million worth of “deferred maintenance” waited patiently. Most of the needed repairs are in Lawrence.
Last week, the Lawrence Journal-World listed numerous expenditures to renovate Strong Hall, some of which seem superfluous. For example, a $1,300 icemaker was added to the kitchen and three radiator covers to the provost office totaled more than $8,000. Seriously? With roofs to repair, who needs icemakers in Kansas winter weather? The provost’s radiator covers probably keep his office toasty warm, but did they really require $8,000? Maybe the construction crew that built these covers, the University’s Facilities Operations, should learn a few lessons from do-it-yourself guides. Online sites provide instructions for how to build a radiator cover for far less than $1,000.
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With ever increasing maintenance projects at the University, the latest makeovers in Strong Hall could be perceived as an injustice to students.
Wiser expenditures could have saved a few extra thousand for the pot-holed parking lots or the tile-less roofs. Not that a few thousand makes much of a dent in $300 million.
With ever increasing maintenance projects at the University, the latest makeovers in Strong Hall could be perceived as an injustice to students.
Despite that, the decision to renovate top administrator’s office areas was reasonable. In fact, these administrative people understand something about deferred maintenance. The paint jobs in administrator’s offices were the first in 13 years. One of the old kitchen sinks didn’t work. The replaced furniture was more than 30 years old, and it wasn’t even trashed — it was placed elsewhere on campus where furniture was older yet.
The exorbitant cost of deferred maintenance is unfortunate, but it is not a result of bad budgeting. Yearly, new maintenance problems arise, and because the University lacks funds to address them, the cost of deferred maintenance on the Lawrence campus alone increases by $20 million per year. The state of Kansas provides only $4.4 million for its yearly upkeep.
The University campus comprises 200 buildings and 1,000 acres. It’s not easy to maintain. Students should credit our administrators for dealing with the problem and should allow them a little renovation on their own section of the campus without complaint. Deferred maintenance will just have to wait.
— Alison Kieler for the editorial board.
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