From its inception, I hated the Great Wall of Duquesne. I didn’t realize I wasn’t the only one who hated it until I heard someone else comment on it on the first day of class this year. It’s ugly and inconvenient for cars and pedestrians.

I understand that there was an unfortunate incident several years ago that prompted the construction of the Great Wall. I suspect that incident involved negligence by both the driver and the pedestrian. But did they have to take such drastic action based on that incident? It’s sort of like the guy with the shoe bomb, so now we all have to take our shoes off to get through airport security.

The Great Wall destroys the feng shui of the east side of the campus. Feng shui is the Chinese art of creating harmonious surroundings by positioning objects, buildings, graves, and furniture, based on a belief in patterns of yin and yang and the flow of chi (energy) that have positive and negative effects. There is no positive effect of the Great Wall of Duquesne. I’m only half serious about this as I do not practice nor really know anything about feng shui, but they used feng shui principles to design the structures for the Beijing Olympics. 10 billion Chinese people can’t be wrong.

But seriously, the danger for pedestrians will always exist, wall or no wall. We all know that same danger exists on the inner roads of the campus. Crosswalks and a flashing speed limit sign, like on all Joplin roadways near schools, would have been a better and cheaper solution.

Advocates for the Great Wall of Duquesne will say I’m just too lazy to walk a few extra feet, and that much is true. But hundreds of basketball fans are going to agree with me when they have to walk from Leggett & Platt Athletic Center to the stadium parking lot in the freezing cold winter weather because the parking lot east of Leggett & Platt was eliminated. This inconvenience also affects events at Webster Hall and Taylor Auditorium. The parking lot in back of Webster Hall can’t be accessed coming from the south and doesn’t allow exit to the north because of the wall.

Now, I’m not trying to start something, and I know that my rant will not have the same effect as Ronald Reagan’s famous quote, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” I can only hope that someday the Great Wall of Duquesne, like the more infamous Berlin Wall, will indeed come down.