Like any winter at UMass Boston, students and staff have complained about the automatic doors on both the upper level and first floor Campus Center being broken. The East and West Residence Halls experience a similar issue with their accessible doors.
“It’s just because of wind from the harbor,” said Flower Pauer, an environmental science graduate student. “It blows in, and the pressure pushing against the doors’ automatic system makes them get stuck. That same wind turns the walkway by Clark [Athletic Center] into a giant wind tunnel.”
Students have reported that it’s “nearly impossible” to walk down the path from Residence Hall East to the back doors of University Hall and Campus Center Upper Level. There have been four related injuries so far in 2025, according to UMBPD incident reports obtained by The Mass Media.
These issues increase traffic in the busiest areas on campus and inconvenience many students. University administration has made moves to remedy this situation, starting with the Residence Halls.
In an email sent out to students and faculty on Jan. 27, Chancellor Marcelo Suarez-Orozco announced a new installation in the Clark Athletic Center parking lot: a “Big A— Fan.”
“[Big A— Fan] will blow back against the wind blowing in from the harbor, hopefully eradicating the issue of wind-related injuries,” wrote Suarez-Orozco. The fan is about 18 feet tall and sits next to the Zipcar parking near the quad and Clark Athletic Center.
This recent effort is not foolproof. In the first two weeks of classes, there have been multiple instances of fire alarms going off and the eduroam network experiencing outages. Alec Trick, a maintenance worker at the university, says that these are not independent of one another.
“Well, it’s in the name. A ‘Big A— Fan’ requires a big a— amount of electricity. It’s like when you plug anything into one of these apartments and the lights start flickering like it’s the f—in’ Fourth of July,” said Trick.
As for the Campus Center doors, the University decided to try completely removing the doors for a more “open concept” layout, according to the Chancellor’s follow-up email.
The weather has not made this transition easy, though. Not only have the upper level and first floor become just as windy as outside, but the open space has welcomed nonhuman visitors. Early morning kitchen staff walked into Campus Center Monday, Feb. 3, and found a flock of geese had taken over the upper level, including the Dunkin’ Donuts.
After this incident, the administration decided to place one “Big A— Fan” in the middle of the upper-level lobby, and another on the Campus Center Terrace. The goal is for the fans to blow strong enough that the geese cannot fight it.
Members of faculty and staff complained that the campus was better before any changes. In a letter signed anonymously as “dedicated faculty,” they suggested that the university “get better doors.”
A representative for the administration responded, “that would make too much sense.” Administration has refused to comment further on this matter, or on the allegations that the intern who sent out the response has yet to be seen by anyone since its release.
This article appeared in print on Page 14 of Vol. LIX Issue X, published Feb. 10, 2025.
