posted on Jan. 15: Complaints keep new classroom hotline ringing

Malfunctioning heating systems, lights and clocks are the main complaints coming in on the new classroom hotline.

Since the winter term began Jan. 3, 27 complaints have been registered using the hotline, Harvey Weingarten, vice-president academic and provost, told University Senators at their meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 10

Twenty-two of the complaints have been fixed and five are pending. Of the five, four of the complaints pertain to clocks that don’t work.

The classroom hotline number is available at ext. 23073 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Instructors are encouraged to leave a message if calling after hours. Problems can also be reported via e-mail to clerks@mcmaster.ca.

Weingarten said he and Karen Belaire, vice-president administration, established the hotline because there were “too many complaints from instructors who were having troubles with their classrooms.

“It is not the job of the instructors to track down chalk and not the job of the instructors to fix thermostats. It is very hard for people to be innovative when they can’t take off their coat because it’s too cold or they can’t find chalk for a blackboard.”

Weingarten credited Lynne Taylor and Kathy Kishimoto from the Office of the Vice-President Administration with diligently pursuing each complaint and ensuring the problems are rectified.

“We’re now getting instructors calling back and thanking them for fixing the problem,” he said. “The majority are fixed within 24 hours.”

Weingarten said he has discovered there is not always one solution that will suit all classroom users. In one case, an instructor called the hotline to report the classroom lacked a table suitable for a projector needed to run a PowerPoint presentation. The next instructor to use the same classroom called to report there was an errant table in the classroom.

Weingarten said the hotline “is an experiment that will continue for the rest of the term.”