March 5, 2014

Hyland Hall deserves to be at least on par with the rest of campus and have water bottle filling stations.  The stations could easily and affordably be installed at every water fountain location.  Water bottle filling stations would improve the lives of student and faculty in the following ways:

• Water bottle filling stations work quickly, which reduces bottlenecks in traffic.

• Water bottle filling stations promote health by making refills easy.

• Water bottle filling stations are safer. Students using clumsy, slow water fountains to fill massive water bottles tend to dump water on the ground.

• Water bottle filling stations are not a luxury item; they are actually a staple campus wide.

Hyland Hall is a beautiful building and is a testament to the quality education and environment offered here at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.   Hyland Hall cost over $42 million to build, boasts of nearly 200,000 square feet of space, and is a feather in the cap of the campus.  Yet it doesn’t make a basic necessity readily available to its users.
Between classes, the Hyland hall traffic becomes unruly-a fifteen minute break is scarcely enough time to get from one room to another.  The slow traffic is only worsened when a student is filling their water bottle.  While filling a water bottle is understandable (I do it all the time), the trouble starts when a line is formed.  This mass of thirsty students brings the unfortunate masses to a near stand still.
By now you must be wondering, what can I do? For starters, you can respond to a survey.  Please check this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CJKPM37
There, you will have the opportunity to make your interest in this matter clear.
If there is sufficient feedback regarding this matter, perhaps a water bottle based org can be set up.  The important thing to remember is that your voice matters.  Students pay a lot of money for a quality education.  These facilities are designed to be comfortable places to learn and grow.
With your help, we can make this a today issue, not a ‘someday’ issue.  Hyland Hall deserves filling stations.

Joseph Wisnowski