The sounds from loud construction equipment are starting to take their toll on students at Bucks. Lecture halls echo with the rumbles of power drills, jack hammers, and the caution alarms of large vehicles in reverse.
The campus has been in a state of constant renovation for the past four years with deadlines for some projects into 2012. The noise from the workers has had a deleterious effect on students by interrupting their concentration in the classroom.
John Timko, 24, a pharmaceutical studies from Levittown, said “It disturbs your concentration and is [difficult] to hear the teacher.”
Professors try to increase their volume, but sometimes their voices just can’t trump the noise.
“The teacher tries his best to talk over the noise, but the students in the back can’t hear them,” Timko said.
Donny Kronnagel, 20, a history major from Morrisville, said, “It is annoying and gets bothersome to the learning experience. I find it hard to write a paper or listen to a lecture when I hear the buzzing of a drill in my ear.”
The construction is taking place all over campus including Penn Hall, Founders Hall, the gym and the Rollins Center. In some places the demolition process is not only heard, but felt too.
John Peeples, 27, a communication major from Morrisville, said, “I feel like there is way too much construction as is. The noise is unbearably distracting. All you can hear is loud banging, drills, and trucks. The whole classroom vibrates. It’s hard to pay attention because of it.”
The construction near Founders Hall, the gym and the Rollins Center is for a new commons area for students. The Newtown Commons will be a large, eco-friendly building that is planned to be finished by the spring of 2012.
The gym will be expanded into Pemberton hall, making it one large, multi-functional building.
Most students feel that the construction is ill-timed, and could have been started during the less populated summer session.
“The timing isn’t appropriate,” said Kathleen Mash, 28, a tourism and hospitality major from Fountainville. “They had plenty of time in the summer to get the bulk of the construction done. My classes shake from their jackhammers or dynamite or whatever they are using. This whole thing is just inconvenient.”
However, some students aren’t so annoyed by all the renovations. Matt Zamell, 20, an information technology major from Langhorne, has classes on the top floors of Founders and Penn Hall where he said the annoyances aren’t as bad.
“It actually doesn’t bother me,” Zamell said. “I don’t really hear any noise in my classes.”
No matter how distracting the construction may be, students are still looking forward to the finished product.
“[The Newtown Commons] is a good idea,” Amanda Moretti, 21, a nursing major from Hilltown, said. “There aren’t a lot of areas on campus to hang out, so it will be good to have the extra space.”