“This is the Quad. Really, it’s like the center of campus. When the weather is nice, students flock here, doing homework, playing Frisbee. There’s always people around!”

As a tour guide, I am responsible for giving prospective students a tour of campus. We are asked to give the true student perspective of campus, to show a high school student what life at Ashland is really like. Nowhere do I deviate further from the truth than when I walk students across the Quad. As much as I’d love for this to be true, I’ve never seen the Quad fulfill its stereotypical, teen college movie expectations.

I spent my summer here living in Myers. As my room began to resemble the Heat Miser’s Lair, I spent less time sweating it out, and more time on the Quad. Each day after work, I’d go to the Quad to enjoy a book and some fresh air. 

Unfortunately, the only places to sit are the various picnic tables scattered across the Quad. They have seen better days, to say the least

The Quad desperately needs seating, just as it needs an infusion of energy from the many student groups on campus, the groups that often define a student’s college experience as much as their major. 

What it needs are custom-painted Adirondack chairs, sponsored by student organizations across campus. 

Awesome, right?

To set this Quad-saving plan into motion, a decision would need to be made about how many chairs could go on the Quad. The larger the number, the smaller the campus organization could be to get a chair. 

Greek Life could get one chair, for example, or it could be broken down into an IFC and a Pan-Hellenic chair, or even further to each chapter getting a chair. Religious Life could get one chair, or each individual ministry could get their own chair. 

From there, the organization could paint the chair to reflect their group. Newman could have a grinning portrait of the Pope on theirs, while Ashbrook could have a bald eagle soaring atop a flowing American flag. These are all just ideas, but I’d love to see what some organizations would do with their chair. There are quite a few talented artists on campus. Couple them with the wittier folks on campus, and I see some fantastic chair ideas coming to fruition.

On the other hand, each chair could become fair game for painting. They could be treated like the rocks, open to being painted by any student organization. Whoever gets the chairs has them for the week, until the next group claims them as their own. If nothing else, walking onto the Quad Sunday morning to see what the chairs look like after the Anime Club gets their hands on them would be something to see. Or sitting on some cushions carefully crafted by the Crochet and Knitting club. The possibilities are endless.

Would the chairs be stolen by students? I spent a week this summer at John Carroll University, where Adirondack chairs are a staple on their multiple Quads. The chairs have not been stolen, and students spent far more time out on the quad as one campus community. I hope that the same would occur her, but if not, we now know why we can’t have nice things.

So take note Student Senate! Read carefully, Sue Heimann. Meet me on the Quad, Dr. Crothers! The Quad needs these chairs, and we need your support!