The primary purpose of a university is to teach students. At GW, the boom in construction projects on campus has affected professors’ ability to teach and students’ ability to learn. Case in point: the construction on the sixth floor of Gelman Library. While demolition and construction was being done, classes were being held in nearby rooms. The sound of hammering and drilling, and the general noise that accompanies construction hardly promotes an environment conducive to learning.

But while construction during classes is bad enough, the University’s response to professors’ repeated requests for classroom changes to other rooms was pathetic. While the University formulated excuses about why moves were impossible, students strained to hear their professors’ lectures over the construction noise. That is unacceptable.

The construction and renovations in Gelman ultimately will benefit students and are necessary to ensure that GW continues on the path toward becoming a top-notch research institution. But it is hard to fathom how University administrators thought the sounds of jackhammering and the demolition of walls would not affect classes.

It is equally hard to understand how administrators could simply ignore repeated requests for classroom changes. Only recently have classes in Gelman that were being disrupted by the noise been moved to Lisner Hall. This change comes more than halfway into the semester. Administrators should have had the foresight to move the classes out of Gelman before the construction started.

The University constantly bills itself as a nationally renowned institution of higher learning and research. To not move classes until professors complain several times about disruptions to lectures is a dereliction of its duties. Students are here to learn; professors are here to teach. The University provides the environment to put the two together. When it disregards its responsibilities, it has failed in its mission. Hopefully in future situations in which construction and learning collide, education will take precedence.