Does a 10-foot cylinder spell
safety
Finally, some progress with the fountain situation.
But, is it good progress?
Although some may think this may be a step in the
right direction, they may need to step back and ask themselves what
they think Purdue officials are really accomplishing with this plan.
The Class of 1939 Water Sculpture (also referred
to as the Engineering Mall fountain) is going to be turned back on eventually.
Don't get too excited, however, the fountain is going to be controlled
by a 10-foot water pipe so access to the jet stream of water will still
be denied.
It doesn't seem that this proposal is accomplishing
anything that officials claim forced them to turn off Purdue's precious
fountains in the first place.
Safety and liability were the fueling factors behind
the decision to take action against those awful and evil waterspouts.
So a fence was proposed and this campus has never
witnessed a similar uproar. To a lot of people around campus (as evident
by the letters to the editor this office received), the fountain fencing
issue was more important than gay rights, abortion issues and campus
disturbances.
Well, now with the proposal of a cylinder shield
rather than a fence, officials hope that complaints will disappear like
the water has.
Perhaps they should try plan B. Back to the old
drawing board as they say.
With a 10-feet-tall cylinder that surrounds the
jet stream, safety should still be a concern. 10-feet — the exact
height of a basketball hoop's rim. Surely, though, with the bright students
at Purdue, no one will try to jump up and touch the top of the fountain's
newest safety net. They're brighter than that (OK some Dumpster burning
and window breaking, but that's different, right?).
Of course some may be to the point where whatever
it takes to get the fountains turned on is a bonus. With several days
of 90-plus-degree weather, surely a lot of folks just want to see some
water coming from atop the fountains. No doubt the FFA kids who walk
around campus in those surely hot corduroy jackets wouldn't mind letting
the water splash their faces.
This seems to be more of doing just enough to temporarily
satisfy people who simply want to see the fountains running.
Seems like nothing but a tease. The water's on
and you can't play in it. Sure you might be able to feel some sprinkles
on your face, but it doesn't matter if it flows down over your head;
it's not the same as running through the fountain with a pair of swim
trunks or cut-off jeans on. Besides sun dwellers, you would be lucky
to see those fountains turned consistently on again before the fall
semester, with the finalizing, constructing and erecting that will have
to take place.
The fact is that no matter what defense against
the dangerous fountains is adopted and enforced, the danger will still
exist. Even the original fencing plan contained flaws. Jumping over
a fence to reach the treasured fountains surely doesn't sound any safer
than simply passing through.
With knowing that anything short of leaving them
turned off permanently, which would be cruel, allows the possibility
of someone becoming injured, leave them on and leave them alone.
Editorial Board: Keith Thomas, Kurt Esposito, Jamie
Teibel, Ian Clift, Anna Herkamp
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