In the heart of Oakland University is the Oakland Center (OC), where students meet friends, talk to others, eat food and pass through to get to classes. However, in the line of traffic at the OC, the number of reports for the unsafe floor material grows.
Over the years, reports grew about how people were tripping over the floors, but only recently has it been brought to the OU administration’s attention.
OC Director, Chris Reed, has been made aware of these issues and plans to solve the problem. 
Reed’s role at the OC is in charge of the entire facility, ranging from the food to the bookstore, to the actual building itself. Reed said he heard about the issue from OU facilities.
“We have had issues with it since it was installed with the expansion of the Oakland Center back in 2018,” Reed said.
The material for the flooring has become loose and warped over the past couple of months. 
“[We are] deeply concerned, because obviously, we don’t want anyone to be in an unsafe environment,” Reed said. “Definitely wanted to address it immediately.”
“Walk-off mats have been placed in problematic areas to cover the floor to improve the safety of students until a permanent solution is in place.”
The OC administration has been working on this issue since the end of 2023. One of the associate directors of the facility met with the flooring providers in November to hopefully move toward a safer environment for the students.
“There are areas that, I think we envision, that becomes carpeted and some of that luxury vinyl tile,” Reed said. “We just want to make sure that it’s done right and again it looks intentional because it will be intentional, but it has that continuity and flow to it.”
The OU administration said they would like to have the issue fixed soon. With it being in the middle of the academic school year, the building tends to be a bit busier, which makes it harder to direct the traffic.
“I think we know the solution,” Reed said. “What it comes down to is how quickly the material can get here and how it impacts traffic flow. Obviously, at this time of the year, we have a lot more traffic that comes through here, so we have to block parts of it, we have to do it in phases so that traffic can continue to flow.”
Reed said he hopes the material arrives by the end of January and that a permanent solution is in place by winter break in February.
Although Reed admitted he is “being aggressive” with the timeline that he hopes for, he wants the students to be in a safe environment.
Additional news regarding the flooring updates will be shared when available. For further information and news, visit the OC’s website.
