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Ryan Whyde

Professor Granillo

English 103

06 December 2019

College of the Canyons Pool: An Ignored Scar On Campus

Colleges devote large sums of capital to maintain the asthetic of academia. Although, an

industry often prioritizes the most prevalent aspects of campus. College of the Canyons has

fallen into this trap of modernization of select areas and neglect of others. College of the

Canyons’ pool embodies the school’s avoidant attitude and miss-matched accessibility towards

its inconspicuous aspects. College of the Canyons needs to put proportional effort into

renovating all of its facilities, else it’s beauty is only superficial.

The College of the Canyons pool is an immense building filled with empty space. The

interior consists of the pool with yellow and blue flags draped over it. The far wall is painted in

the same yellow and blue colors, writing “Cougars.” The pool clearly was made to represent the

spirit of the college, but further examination reveals that the area has been deeply neglected.

Trash clutters the floor, the pool appears as though it hasn’t been cleaned in years and the lack of

supervision exemplifies the loss of interest in the facility. The lack of attention to this scar of the

campus exemplifies the school’s dodgy coping mechanism.

Like a student putting off an assignment, the college neglects this part of the campus. In

Lois Tyson’s book, Critical Theory Today, she describes avoidance a, “ … Staying away from

people or situations that are liable to make us anxious by stirring up som subconscious …

experience or emotions”(15). While the school does not have a subconscious like humans, it

clearly seeks to ignore the blatant issues of these public spaces for budgetary reasons. Although
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the pool is admittedly filthy, the true problem lies in that it broken, pumping cold water to

maintain a temperature well below 70 degrees. Rather than updating the entirety of the school,

the board intends on building everything in the public eye and ignoring the rest. This Gilded

excrement perspective is also shown in the pool’s accessibility.

College of the Canyons’ pool area is meant for abled body individuals exclusively.

Rosemarie Garland-Thomson explains in her article, “Integrating Disability, Transforming

Feminist Theory,” that an abled body society invests resources that are accessible to able-bodied

communities (5). In investing in the needs of the many, the needs of the disenfranchised are

neglected. The college pool does not cater to any disabled needs, from automatic doors to cranes

to aid those unable to enter the water by themselves. The College caters to disabilities, but the

inconsistent nature at which this is done leads one to question if accessibility truly matters to the

board.

College of the canyons avoidance of its pool and the pool’s lack of accessibility creates

an unwelcoming public space. The college has renovated large parts of the valencia campus but

keeps the rest in a state of disrepair. If the board desires to create a welcoming environment to

promote academic and athletics, they must put equal effort throughout the school