Dan Simons

At the end of a semester I, and many other people I know, like to take the elevator to the top floor of the Science and Engineering Building, walk onto the classroom-sized roof and enjoy the view.

But I couldn’t do that last semester.

At first I figured they had it closed off because of the cold weather, but then it warmed up and finals were over for the winter 2009 semester. I went to check the door.

“Emergency Exit Only No Roof Access” reads the new sign next to the door leading outside.

“Do Not Open! Alarm Will Go Off!!!” says the sign on the window. The ominous red right on the wall alludes to this. I wasn’t about to open it and find out.

Eight stories above the ground, 174 steps if you decided to take the stairs, only to find out students are no longer allowed on the roof of SEB.

It’s a safety issue to allow people onto that high of a rooftop without a guard rail or protective fencing. Several offices and the Oakland University Police Deparment have reported students misbehaving up there, breaking the laws of campus by abusing the law of gravity.  Any physics major can tell you that dropping objects from eight stories can cause serious damage. Any medical student can tell you that same fall can be fatal.

There is, however, a substantial concrete barrier that would be pretty hard to accidentally trip over. And any person immature and stupid enough to drop things off the roof probably shouldn’t be in college anyway.

By cutting us off from access to the roof of SEB, the university is loudly saying that students can’t be trusted enough to be up there. And they’re saying it with that little red light and a big red sign.

The school has changed its policies of where students are allowed to go on campus. Recently students have been blocked from administrative halls in Wilson Hall by the placement of keycard access devices on doors, again for apparent safety reasons.

Going on the roof of SEB and looking around is almost an Oakland rite of passage every student should go through. It’s like working out at the Rec. Center, getting lost in O’Dowd, falling asleep on a Lay-Z-Boy in the basement of the Oakland Center, struggling to find a parking space around noon, trying to stomach Vandenberg cafeteria food or getting into an argument about whether it’s Beer or Bear Lake. It’s part of the Oakland experience.

If it turns out the reason for closing the roof is a result of students misbehaving up there, then why not set up a card system like the one that keeps non-residents out of the residence halls. Swiping  a Spirit Card would allow access. This would record who has been up there, stop people who have abused the privilege, and allow the university to control what times people are allowed to be up there.

When you’re way up there on the roof on a clear day, look south. You can see the outline of the iconic Renaissance Center in Detroit on the horizon way off in the distance. You can also see the Chrysler headquarters, although by the time students are allowed back onto the roof, it may be Fiat HQ.

You can see all of campus from the top of SEB. You can see all the cars in the parking lots, students walking to and from classes, all the buildings and all the trees — something you can’t do from the top of Hamlin, Vandenberg, or O’Dowd. You get to see how beautiful the campus is from the rooftop of SEB. Well, you used to be able to, anyway.