http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-lane-colleges-drift-away-from-their-academic-priorities/2014/09/24/30efcda2-4409-11e4-9a15-137aa0153527_story.html
And so it is. Since 1967, all that’s changed about drifting endlessly in a pool is that now you can do it on campus while you’re still a student.
Miniature water parks, including circular “lazy rivers” — with room for several hundred students to float in inner tubes — are standard equipment at a growing number of colleges, according to the New York Times.
The lazy river at Texas Tech is part of an $8.4 million complex that includes a water slide and tanning deck, the Times reports. Keeping up with the competition, Louisiana State University is constructing one in the shape of the school’s logo.
It’s all part of the trend toward competing for enrollment based on student “amenities,” whether lazy rivers or elaborate dining facilities. As of late 2012, 92 schools had embarked on 157 recreational capital projects, at a total cost of $1.7 billion, according to Simon Bravo, a spokesman for NIRSA: Leaders in Collegiate Recreation (formerly the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association).
Just one question: Is this the best use of scarce resources, given that these facilities are ultimately underwritten by tuition and by federal and state taxpayer funding — and that colleges are supposed to be, you know, educational institutions?
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