By Nicole June | Perspectives Editor
Editorial
Everyone must travel through the UC at some point or another, and typically every day while on campus. Everyone also must eat, and therefore make a trip to the delicious food court. Everyone in the food court must watch 12 televisions while they eat.
No, that last one definitely isn’t necessary. This semester, I noticed when walking into the UC 12 shiny new flat screens had been added. That’s right, 12. They hang in side-by-side pairs in one approximately 40 foot section of space. Convenient, isn’t it?
Wrong. These TVs are completely unnecessary. If you were to survey the room you would see no one is even watching them. Even if you had some desire to watch the same music videos over and over, it wouldn’t matter because you can’t hear them anyway.
Nothing educational or pertinent to students is played on these flat screens.
Not everything must be academic, but if they aren’t serving a good purpose, they seem like a waste of time and one other very important thing: money.
I Googled around for awhile and eventually landed on www.toptenreviews.com. It gave a listing of 10 of the top brands and their average prices.
I didn’t measure the TVs because for once in my life I wasn’t tall enough. So I’m emphasizing that this is just an estimate.
Back to business. The most expensive brand listed costs $4,299. That’s a little hefty. The cheapest brand was $829. Better, but still not cheap. I got out my handy-dandy calculator and figured out the average cost for the listed televisions is $2,443.90.
Let’s assume (yes, I know what they say) APSU went in for the mediocre. That means 12 of them would cost $29,326.
I don’t think I know any college students have $29,326 in pocket change.
I also don’t know many college students with even one flat screen TV, not including the one at their parents’ house.
I do, however, know plenty who struggle to pay their tuition, especially now the prices have gone up. I also know many students who work two jobs on top of school to survive.
My question is this: how does the appropriation of funds work?
It seems odd that a university would spend so much money on lunchtime “entertainment.” There are far more important and useful things that kind of money can be spent on.
Perhaps more potted plants to block off stoops in designated smoking areas would be a good investment.
Speaking of which, if I get one more e-mail about designated smoking areas, I may have to — well, go smoke, I guess.
– Nicole June, Perspectives Editor
CORRECTION: This editorial contains inaccurate information. The TV’s were actually free. APSU received the television screens along with the programming free from AKOO International in exchange for the attention of our students according to Charlie Partain, marketing manager for Chartwell’s at APSU.
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September 30th, 2009 on 7:34 PM
APSU didn’t pay anything for these televisions. Frankly, more research should go into suggestions for our campus before broadcasting the wrong information to students.
September 30th, 2009 on 8:02 PM
I have never seen such a more disrespectful poorly written article in my entire life. I was one of the students on the committee looking to entertain the students at Austin Peay at NO COST TO THE STUDENTS. Yes that is right they were free! Advertising and music companies pay for these tvs to be placed in schools around the nation and Austin Peay was selected as one…. sounds like something the Allstate should report on right? To bad they are busy reporting false information in a newspaper that frankly is one of the biggest waste of school funds. I fully expect an apology and for the Allstate to at least put ten minutes of research in to an article instead of cramming to write it like it is the last night to write a paper for a freshmen English class.
October 1st, 2009 on 1:47 PM
Why is this article still up?
October 1st, 2009 on 3:47 PM
This article contained inaccurate information. We at The All State acknowledge the basis of this column was an assumption. It was an editorial, or opinion piece, from our Perspectives editor. However, this does not mean that research should not be done in an accurate manner for editorials. A correction has been made to this column online and also will be made in the next print edition, which will come out Wednesday, Oct. 7. We at TAS encourage our readers to inform us of any inaccuracies in our work because we strive to conduct responsible journalism. We also welcome story ideas, which can be e-mailed to theallstate@apsu.edu or called in at 931.221.7376.
October 6th, 2009 on 5:56 PM
The author is posing next to a trashcan, where this, and the majority of her articles, belong.
November 11th, 2009 on 2:05 AM
The television might not have cost nothing to APSU however it is still a waste of electricity to have 12 televisions on in the food court where it is too noisy.