Why Is College Hella Wasteful?
My college recently decided (well, probably back in 05 or some shit) that our library was long in the tooth and needed replacement. Ok I get that, need new library, maybe old one had asbestos or something. But to replace it they built this beautiful ass multistory building complete with coffee cafe and a splendid arboretum with fancy school related propaganda and shit.
This got me thinking, every one hates the rising tuition costs and colleges keep acting like they have nothing they can do about it but every new college building I've ever seen is chock full of seemingly unnecessary size and scope. For a library all one really needs is essentially an HVAC'ed box big enough to hold a couple thousand books, newspaper articles, public computer/printing equip etc. So why the architectual excess? Does it subliminally make me a better student to be around amazing buildings rather than basic, functional buildings more cheaply built and maintained?
I get that no one wants to go to a dump. I get that but there's a huge difference between basic buildings and landscaping and apeshit waterfountains and artistically created buildings built in such fashion for what seems like upper collegiate management dick wagging and self congratulatory masturbation. Is there some underlying reason I'm missing here?
