When the Eiffel Tower was first built, Parisians thought it was the ugliest building in the world. They used to say that the top of the Eiffel Tower was the best spot in the city. . . because it was the only place you couldn’t see the Eiffel Tower.

You could say the same thing about Sturm Hall. Its facade is reminiscent of nothing but dubious architectural taste, but-like the Eiffel Tower-the view can be amazing. Specifically, I’m talking about the view from those four leather chairs on the fourth floor looking north.

When the clunkety General Classroom Building was first transformed into the slightly less clunkety Sturm Hall, it was worth getting to class early just so you could sit in one of those comfortable chairs and overlook the tennis courts, athletic fields, and The Big Penny (otherwise known as the Ritchie Center). On a good day, you could see the Denver skyline in the distance, the mountains to the west, and maybe even a good tennis match.

But those days are over. Yes, the windows are still there-but the chairs have been bolted down to the ground so that they don’t face the windows. It was once a great spot to admire the view, read a book, or escape an endless group meeting, but now it’s impossible to pull up a chair and stare out the window. Of course, you still get a great view, but now you also get a crick in your neck.

Why bolt a few chairs to the ground? Has someone tried to steal them? This wouldn’t be surprising, but how would you sneak a chair out of Sturm? Surely not by elevator. That would be too obvious. By stairs? Carrying the Norton Anthology of Literature up and down four flights is enough for me. I can’t imagine carrying a large leather chair.

I’m sure there’s a reason for bolting these chairs to the ground, but I can’t help but feel like it is the end of an era. The view from those chairs-when they could still face the window-was one of those special things that added to the campus aura, like the Humanities Gardens in the fall or that one remaining vending machine where you can still get an illegal Coca-Cola on a Pepsi campus. (And don’t even think I’m going to tell where that is.)

The chairs on the fourth floor of Sturm looking north should be unbolted, and students should be free to sit in whatever direction they want. This is a cause I can’t sit down for.

Jonathan John

Senior