3 ms·

When I was in college, they were going to put carpet in the science labs, and a few of us thought it was a really stupid, dangerous idea. We started a petition

When I was in college, they were going to put carpet in the science labs, and a few of us thought it was a really stupid, dangerous idea. We started a petition and asked for signatures at the on-campus cafe. After a few days, the administrators asked us into their office for a chat. They asked us stupid questions and tried to talk us out of our petition. When it didn't work, they eventually caved and didn't do the carpet that year. They waited for the next year. Then a couple years later, they put back the tile. I don't know why they were so scared of our petition, but I'm sure this is another situation that could benefit from one. It sends a very clear message about the situation to people very high up in the food chain. And I'm sure it could get a ton of signatures.

unsupp0rted 3y ago
Why were they so intent on carpet for the science labs? I mean, why change the flooring type at all?
- davidkuennen 3y ago
  I really want to know as well. Why was the carpet so important to them?
  - mistercheph 3y ago
    Have you ever interacted with a bureaucracy? They are an LLM assembled from human flesh: Random behavior, incomprehensible rationales, and an unstoppable and undirectable force of iron will.
- kirykl 3y ago
  Budget not spent is budget lost
- a_shovel 3y ago
  It's a power thing. Authorities make arbitrary changes just because they can, and exercising their power feels good. They ignore the reason people object to those changes and interpret the objections as challenges to their power and direct personal insults. Basicly, "I'm in charge" outweighs "this is dangerous".
gweinberg 3y ago
Who thought carpet was a good idea? Obviously not the professors, or anybody who new anything about chemistry labs.
- buildsjets 3y ago
  This decision was not optimized for the operation of the chemistry lab. It was optimized to game the university's procurement process. It was a brilliant idea, if your objective was to exhaust your allocated facilities maintenance budget on something that you knew would have a very limited lifespan. That means you would have to request an even larger budget in just a year or two, in order to replace the destroyed carpet. Then your department gets both a new floor and a larger budget.

unsupp0rted 3y ago

Why were they so intent on carpet for the science labs? I mean, why change the flooring type at all?

davidkuennen 3y ago
I really want to know as well. Why was the carpet so important to them?
- mistercheph 3y ago
  Have you ever interacted with a bureaucracy? They are an LLM assembled from human flesh: Random behavior, incomprehensible rationales, and an unstoppable and undirectable force of iron will.
kirykl 3y ago
Budget not spent is budget lost
a_shovel 3y ago
It's a power thing. Authorities make arbitrary changes just because they can, and exercising their power feels good. They ignore the reason people object to those changes and interpret the objections as challenges to their power and direct personal insults. Basicly, "I'm in charge" outweighs "this is dangerous".

gweinberg 3y ago

Who thought carpet was a good idea? Obviously not the professors, or anybody who new anything about chemistry labs.

buildsjets 3y ago
This decision was not optimized for the operation of the chemistry lab. It was optimized to game the university's procurement process. It was a brilliant idea, if your objective was to exhaust your allocated facilities maintenance budget on something that you knew would have a very limited lifespan. That means you would have to request an even larger budget in just a year or two, in order to replace the destroyed carpet. Then your department gets both a new floor and a larger budget.