Being a non-traditional freshman at NKU proved to be a truly daunting experience last week when I arrived for my first classes and encountered a dismal parking situation and lack of meaningful signage on campus.
I drove from lot to lot looking for a parking space, any parking space. I finally found one in the visitor’s lot I had used when I registered for classes. Knowing I ran the possibility of being towed, but also being desperate, I parked there anyway.
Because I’m in my fifties and suffer Rheumatoid Arthritis and a couple of bad discs, I put my forty pounds of books in a rolling suitcase to drag along from class to class since I couldn’t possibly carry them. My next challenge was finding a way to get on the campus without having to bounce the suitcase either up or down a flight of stairs.
I stood at the top of a set of steps that led to where I needed to go and considered bouncing the suitcase down the steps, but decided that was not a safe option. Next, I looked for signage that would point me toward a ramp. Finding none, I walked on until I encountered another flight of steps. Finally, just beyond this obstacle, I saw a way to get from here to there.
Finding the first building I needed to access was fairly straightforward since I was, apparently, entering it from the main door. Finding the building where my next class was housed was a little more troublesome. I passed many doors to buildings with no signs to indicate the name of the various buildings.
After exiting elevators on several floors in a number of different buildings, I noticed the traditional signs found in most public buildings that direct you to sets of room numbers often absent.
I wonder what others, business visitors especially, think of the lack of appropriate directional signage when they visit the campus. I also wonder why the campus lacks such a basic commodity as suitable signage.