To the author of The Chronicle's Oct. 9 editorial "Deal with Construction": You do not live near those dormitories affected by the sounds of construction, or if you do, please tell me how you get through the day.
This is how the "inconvenience" you mention, affects my day. At 6:30 a.m., not 9 a.m., I awaken to the sound of construction. And that is six days a week. When I come back from my 10:30 class, I hear construction noises; when I come back from my 2:20 class, I hear construction noises. If I want to take a nap in the afternoon, because I have been awake since 6:30 in the morning, it is not possible due to the "crashing pipes and roaring jackhammers." At five o'clock, if I wish to get any sort of studying done, I have to go to the library, lest I go insane to the sound of more machinery. Finally, at seven o'clock, the sounds cease, and I cannot help but scream "Halleluia!" because another day of construction is over.
Is it therefore an unfair infringement of students' rights to request a more decent work period-say 9 to 5, like the rest of this country? Hardly. That The Chronicle should then rant about how students have no right to complain, when students pay $35,000 to attend this institution and cannot get a decent night's sleep except for on Saturday night, and how you can further claim that they need to sacrifice themselves to the wishes of a majority because Duke is a young institution, is a completely irrational statement to make, and one which could have used some further thought on your part.
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