Imagine getting your worst math grade of the year back on third-floor Wu. Bordering on tears, you trudge all the way to the history wing for the in-class essay that you’ve been dreading all day, just to get there and be welcomed by a plastic folding chair that squeaks. Perfect. Just what you needed to set the tone for 60 minutes of historical analysis. These chairs aren’t just uncomfortable—they’re demoralizing. Commonly found in C129 and A117, these chairs are too low, too stiff, and heavily lacking in the back support category. It’s hard enough to focus during an Honors US History in-class essay without your back slowly turning into a question mark. And not to mention how difficult it is to line the legs of the chairs up just right with the legs of the table so that you’re not straddling a piece of metal.
Let’s be real here: the plastic folding chairs aren’t the only elephant in the room—I also have serious beef with the Wu rolling desk chairs. These “chairs” are not even chairs—they’re not-quite-chairs, not-quite-desks hybrids on wheels. What’s better than a chair that has a desk attached to it, but can only fit one notebook on it and is at a slight angle? Bonus points if your water bottle tips off the edge and crashes to the floor during a silent test. The seats are curved in a way that might work if we were all built like the letter S, and the tray underneath, which I assume is meant for storage, mostly serves as an ankle hazard or a place where you leave a folder and forget about it by the end of class. Add in the wheel and the constant twisting and turning, and suddenly, every classroom transforms into a bumper car arena. These chairs are not comfortable, not built for 75-minute class periods, and most certainly not ergonomic.
But wait—just when you thought I’d exhausted the worst of Taft’s seating options, enter the wooden swivel chair. You’ll find these contraptions in a few classrooms on campus, most notably C130 and the MAC. At first glance, they seem almost distinguished and conference room-like. But don’t be fooled by the solid oak facade, these chairs are a trap. The most notable issue? The moment you dare to lean back on one of these, you may as well sign a contract saying you’ll be halfway to the floor by the middle of your Human Geo harkness discussion. The deceiving part is that they look sturdy, but the spring-loaded backrest gives you just enough support to make you think you’re safe, right before reminding you that you’re definitely not. Nothing quite says “academic focus” like being horizontal on the floor before the end of class. Between the plastic folding chairs, the wheeled desk hybrids, and now these deceptively dangerous wooden launchpads, it’s hard to believe anyone makes it through a full day of classes without back pain—or a mild concussion.
Is there really not enough in the Taft endowment to invest in more comfortable chairs? We’re talking about a school with 12 tennis courts and two hockey rinks. Surely, we can find somewhere in the budget for chairs that aren’t also used to tailgate a football game or play bumper cars. Better seating isn’t a luxury—it’s a basic condition for learning and staying attentive, especially when we’re expected to be in these classrooms hours on end without making it physically obvious that we’re going to be complete hunchbacks by the time we graduate. Is it really too much to ask for a chair that supports both our backs and our GPAs?