One of the most favorable things about New York’s Hunter College Situated in the heart of Manhattan’s Lexington avenue, is its design. Hunter is divided into three buildings: North and East and West, which are connected to one another by walkways lined with windows exhibiting the Manhattan skyline, and intersect with the main West building . The West building consists of escalators that lead to upper floors and also down to the entrance level, where the students may exist the college directly into the train station without ever having to step foot outdoors. As opposed to other institutions in New York, such as the Kingsborough Community College campus situated along the coastline of Brooklyn -- which utilizes individual buildings with vast walking distances of each other; Hunter’s compact design allows students and faculty to access departments in all three buildings comfortably, without having to venture outdoors in unfavorable weather conditions. Making it ideal during cold Winter months and New York’s brash variable rains.
An unusual array of 'hang out spots' are as overabundant in Hunter as its numeric student body. Most students congregate in the large lunch room in the West Building's third floor.Other's sit on the sidelines of Hunter's walkways, cross legged with laptops in hand, or gazing at the skyline and traffic below, or chatting in small bundles with fellow classmates. Other's lounge around in the library, or stretch across, sleeping on pushchairs in Hunter's seating areas situated on the many floors in the West building. And the college's more memorable qualities include promoters for Hunter's many extracurricular clubs gathering in the North building's hallway, often handing out fliers or cup-cakes for membership, and blasting various music --ranging from Sting to The Cure to Beyonce-- from a portable stereo. Other student's, like myself, who value more quietude, often relax on stairways or windowsills on the top floors of the East building's Anthropology department -- an ideal place for studying or having lunch in absolute solitude .
Though buoyant and lively, Hunter's student's do not necessarily encapsulate school pride, at least not outwardly. Most students direct their pride toward individual topics, such as the political, racial or gender topics; many times rallying in the hallways through music or posters or fliers to get their message across. This results in a multitude of information on topics otherwise not addressed or readily noticed. But school pride, is not something I have seen displayed openly, if at all. If it exists, it does so under the current of more outspoken groups, and needs to be more direct or step into the foreground to be noticed by the attending masses.
In addition to the languishing school pride, one other thing I would change about Hunter is it's poor ability to deal with paperwork occasionally -- something the admission office will not admit. And is one of the most frequent of student complaints. This issue particularly concerns the financial aid office. Upon first arriving at Hunter, I, myself, had to deal with the financial office’s tendency to lose certain documents, and failure to confirm the validity of others. One such issue concerned their inability to ascertain my citizenship, when I am a native of America! Twice I sent in the appropriate documents, to no avail. Eventually, I had to address the issue on a face to face basis, and only then was the problem resolved. Since then, I had trouble – albeit minor-- with other offices and documentation. However, I found that offices deal with issues most poorly by mail. Most likely, a student’s problem will be addressed and quickly apprehended if he/she visits the office personally. This may be due to Hunter’s overabundant student body -- one of the largest in the Tri-State-- which results in greater paperwork and thus a greater chance for mishaps.