If you find the seats in your classroom a pain in the butt, get ready for more of the same next year. The Student Caucus regrets to report that a recommendation from the Student Budget Consultation Report 2017/18 to improve classroom seating has so far been dismissed.

Students identified classrooms as a priority area for improvement. One recommendation was that TRU audit the current stock of classroom seating and develop a management plan for distribution and replacement to meet a minimal standard of quality for health and safety.

“Seating might seem like a marginal concern at first,” said Mwansa Kaunda, Student Caucus Chair, “but when students report spending a three-hour lecture or lab without a comfortable seat or with no seat at all – it matters.”

Director of Facilities, Warren Asuchak, felt that no new action was required because seating management already takes place. He explained, “Between terms, Facilities resets classrooms, and broken chairs are replaced… Currently, Facilities has enough chairs in storage to outfit three typical classrooms, so lack of inventory is not an issue.” Asuchak also noted that when furniture breaks during the year, the instructor(s) using the classroom should report it to Facilities, and that anyone else can too.

“Facilities’ system to replace broken furniture is an important minimum standard,” Kaunda continued, “but it isn’t enough to ensure a quality of seating that lets students focus on the lesson at hand. We expected a more proactive approach.”

To stay up-to-date on all of TRU’s responses to your priorities, check out the Student Budget Consultation webpage!