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: Nuts & Boalts

New Space Deathmatch: Flat Screen TVs v. Financial Restraint

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The fifth in my series examining winners and losers of the Boalt Hall space reconfiguration.

Winners: Flat Screen TVs
Has anyone noticed that Boalt is now filled with flat screen TVs? They?re everywhere. Even the seminar room that nobody ever uses has a gigantic one. Our old locker space has two flat screen TVs?and four ceiling projectors. There?s so much video technology in there that the projector screens overlap one another.

I?m not exactly sure what all this technology is for. Is there a massive demand for teleconferencing I don?t know about? Mary Robinson (former Irish President and UN High Commissioner for Human RIghts) is teaching a shared course with Columbia Law School, but that's taking place in Room 116. I?m trying to guess some reason why anyone would need to fire up six TVs in a classroom. Are future law lectures going to be in 3-D?

(The two flat screens in the old locker room are in the back of the class. Maybe Boalt has decided to give professors the same opportunity as students to surf the web during boring lectures.)

Loser: Financial Restraint
Let's face it: just a few years ago, Boalt was a dump. But look at it now! High tech classrooms. Recessed lighting. Power window shades. And shiny glass walls everywhere?even when it?s just in front of sheetrock. (Seriously, what?s the deal with that?) This new ?no expense spared? renovation is great?until you realize who?s footing the bill.

I like the old 1950 photo of Boalt that?s been taped around the new basement space. Maybe it?s just the stylish, mid-century aesthetic: everyone looks great with their cigarettes and tailored grey suits. The basement space looks basically the same, although less lavishly furnished. Still, I?d be happy to take the sheetrock and manual window shades in exchange for a $29,000 reduction on my tuition bill.

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on January 31, 2009 (boomark / email).