To the Editor:

We all know that to get something done at Georgetown University, you need to deftly and skillfully navigate immense bureaucracy. From fixing a leaky sink to trying to getting your academic transcript, students must contend with a bureaucracy that would give the 19th-century British Empire a run for its money.

It all started before I even got to campus. My roommate was participating in a pre-orientation program, which was supposed to allow him to move into our room early. As one might expect, someone along the way messed up, and until a couple of days before arriving he had not actually been registered to move in early.

Upon moving in, our sink had a lovely leak. As instructed, we filed a work order request the next day. That was Aug. 31. Come Nov. 30, nobody had shown up, and our sink continued to leak. Finally, someone came right before finals to fix it, but he ended up bringing the wrong part, only making the leak worse. It was not until I personally emailed the director of facilities that our sink was fixed.

One should not have to email the director of facilities because a leaky sink has not been fixed in five months. One should not have to navigate an immensely complicated system of bureaucracy to do, frankly, basic tasks.

Georgetown would be wise to clean up its act (literally and metaphorically). The school should implement a committee to oversee the digitization of basic tasks and the elimination of wasteful bureaucracy. It’s time to leave behind this colonial-age mindset of deep bureaucracy and move into the 21st century. Georgetown turned 223 years old just this past week. It is time to start reflecting our institution’s age in how things get accomplished on campus.

Ziad Jawadi (COL ’15)