Editor,
Why do I get the overwhelming impression that engineers are afraid of daylight? Don’t get me wrong — I’m not some sort of bronzed Adonis — but I can’t help but wonder why every engineering classroom I’ve ever been in has had its windows closed snug and its blinds tightly drawn.
In the two years I’ve spent studying computer science and electrical engineering here at UNM, I’ve seen some things that would make any other daylight-loving person like myself turn and run the other way. My very first day of a programming lab some semesters ago led me to what engineering students call the “escape pod.” If you’re in a real dark, depressing mood some day, go in there. Some of the windows are crudely smeared over with black paint, so as to keep the light out. I kid you not.
Oh, and who could forget the glimmering gold mine of engineering texts and resources we call Centennial Library? And when I say gold mine, I mean this literally. The library is buried two stories underground.
For a really disappointing look at what your college life has become, spend some time in one of the independent-study rooms down there. For those of you wondering what that giant, terrifying, fortress-looking building with slits for windows is on the southwest end of campus, that’s the Ferris Engineering Center.
I’ve ventured in for the odd office hour or two, and I can assure you there isn’t a single candela of natural sunlight leaking its pesky way into any of the professors’ working spaces.
I guess what I’m asking some of my fellow engineers to do is GO OUTSIDE! It’s nice out there. Don’t worry, nobody will make you talk to anyone. Read a book, take a walk or maybe ride your bike. You can leave your laptop inside and when you get back, maybe open up the blinds. It’ll make all that studying a little less soul-crushing.
Evan King
UNM student
