Stupid fucking fence.......

I don't know about you but when I think of college I think classes, books, and tests.
I don't think fences, trekking miles and miles to class, and getting yelled at by asshole construction workers.

Today on my trek to my Spanish class I overheard a disturbing altercation.  Thinking back I should have stayed and possibly filmed this and been a witness but alas I had an 8:00 a.m. Spanish test.

The BAS is a square shaped building wedged in between two dorms just off center of campus.  It is a very heavily used building on campus for a multitude of classes and apparently now shootings.  Anyway, the road in front of it is being worked on and so the construction company put up a fence.  No problem, right?  Well, this fence not only covers the road in front of the BAS it also has blocked 3/4 of the buildings access and in the process blocked in an entire dorm in the construction zone.

In order to get to the BAS from the most commonly used parking lots we now have to follow Moses down the front of the construction road, take a 90 degree right hand turn, climb over retaining walls (because did I tell you this fence blocks the stairs and sidewalks, too?), make it all the way to the intersection at the Agriculture building and then take another 90 degree, left this time, and walk back down the way you came, cross the closed street and then squeeze between a bent portion of the fence and the other dorm.
Please see my lovely diagram below:

It is extremely inconvenient (my drawing is not to scale obviously and that stupid fence covers a LOT of land) and I am not aware of any communication by MTSU to let us know about this in advance.  I do remember an article in the Sidelines about upcoming construction but do not recall them mentioning a massive, seemingly unending fencing in of the BAS and the roving teams of asshole construction workers that accompany it.

This fence also blocks massive amounts of handicapped parking- isn't there some kind of ADA requirement of so many spots per so many people?  Also, the ramps and electric doors and elevator access are blocked on 3 sides of the BAS now...... not sure that is quite legal.

Now to the incident that sparked this crazy ass blog. 

I am walking to my Spanish class...cursing under my breath about this stupid fence and really how much room do they need and such.  I see two young men come out of the fenced in dorm....guess they live there?  They walk across the street to a gap in the fence and proceed to cross through.  Literally people, it is a part where two pieces of fence come together and are chained closed.  They are about to walk away and two construction workers run screaming their way.

They stop and are told that, "If I see you come this way again we're going to have problems, buddy" and that "campus police are already on their way" and that next time they will be "prosecuted".  They were then asked to give their names so that if they dare try this stunt again they would be known.  The students, young men, visible shaken and quite intimidated gave their names and I thought all was resolved- until one said something like "I just slipped through the gap..."  only to be interrupted by I'm guessing the foreman yelling, "I don't care DUDE, I don't CARE! Ya'll been knocking down my fence all the time and I am TIRED OF IT!" 

Okay, first of all, it is chain link and poles, you and your grandpappy didn't construct this shit by hand while you drank iced tea.  Secondly, this fence is all of 2 days old and clearly up and not knocked down in any areas.  Lastly, who the fuck do you think you are that you think it is acceptable to talk to someone that way?  They are not your kids and they aren't paying you-they are paying MTSU, and I bet MTSU wouldn't (wisely, anyway) like you talking that way to students who study (and in this case LIVE) on campus.

So, I thought about it and about how outrageous this was to me.....and the more I got to thinking about it the more angry I got.....I get the safety aspect, I do...but this is too much and to have to be talked to like that? Nah.  That isn't for me.  I wonder if those guys were going to complain and I decided that I would just in case they didn't.  Because I remember an age where someone like that and a situation as such would intimidate me but not anymore.  People deserve a certain level of respect and this could have been handled so much more appropriately.

So, now I have a call into the campus planning office to lodge a complaint.....haven't gotten a call back from 4 people I've left messages with....perhaps my next call will be to the Sidelines editor?