Hoang Thi Minh Ngoc | hoang_thi_minh_ngoc@nus.edu.sg
the ridge news
A NUSSU Publication
March 10, 2008
Story Highlights:
- A Facebook group which was created for fun raises issues on the stairs in NUS.
- Launch is spread over a three day period
- Too few lifts and “stairways for nothing” may cause inconvenience.
- Some use shuttle buses as a way to circumvent the stairs.
One of the many interesting features of the popular networking site Facebook is the huge number of groups created by its users.
These groups range from academically inclined groups like history interest groups, to groups on random things in life, like how delicious waffles are.
The National University of Singapore (NUS) has a group of its own – albeit with a twist.
The NUS – National University of Stairs, a “Just for Fun – Inside Jokes” group was created and administered by A. Gregory Janiczek, a German student who came to NUS on exchange last semester.
The idea was born while Gregory and some friends were thinking of ways to avoid falling asleep during the lecture.
A friend of Gregory mentioned the joke surrounding the NUS acronym, and Gregory decided to form a group on Facebook using the very same title in early September, 2007.
As of Mar. 10, the group has 50 members.
“Our members intend to simply allow the group to expand on its own without actively looking for members,” Gregory said.
“We post in the group once in a while, encouraging members to post interesting pictures, or even open a ‘picture-of-stairs’ contest,” he added.
While forming the group was sparked off by an interesting joke, it reflects the fact that there might be just too many stairs in NUS, with the few lifts on campus less than sufficient to make up for this.
Commenting on the group photo, which was taken in the Engineering faculty, Cheah Wen Khyn said: “It’s a stairway for nothing. No one ever uses that staircase.”
“Also, I think with the campus buses at NUS you could strategically avoid climbing stairs by trying to use bus stations near elevators, which especially works well for the engine faculty,” said Gregory.
Duong Ngoc Que Huong, a student from FASS claimed: “I’m tired from walking up and down the stairs every day. How bad it is to walk from LT 11 to the fifth storey of AS1 on foot.”
Yay good job Minh! :D
Haha what’s wrong with the stairs? At least the stairs give us some exercise hahaha.
And I wonder how some girls with high heels manage to get around school hahahaha…
There’s also another Facebook group about walking faster along the AS6 corridor. Especially during rush hour when it gets really crowded but some people still WALK SO SLOOOW!…
Haaah….