Stuck in class

We’ve all been in one of those classrooms before — AC units not working when it's hot; the heat not working when it's cold; IT helpers in and out of class, fixing the projector or the computer (or maybe just helping us turn it on). 

With professors constantly moving in and out of classrooms, it can be hard to keep technology working that was fine a day earlier. That is where English lecturer Amy Krug found herself in spring 2023. 

While teaching her honors professional writing class, Krug found a note by the computer saying that there was still a problem with the projector. The next time she was in the room, she found another note — in different handwriting — that read the projector was working but now something else was on the fritz. Turns out many faculty members from different disciplines were having the same problems in that particular Zehler Hall basement classroom.

“This kind of started the ball rolling,” she said. “We [began] to leave notes for each other [about different things].”

Each note was different: “Projector not turning on.” “Try muting it.” “Worked for me!” — followed by the date and time but never a name.

Krug said teaching in Zehler she often feels isolated from the rest of her colleagues in the English department’s main location in Jesse Philips Humanities Center.

These sticky notes were anonymous, small connections, and Krug felt their communications about shared woes prevented barriers from forming. Whether someone was a tenure-track professor or relatively new instructor, whether they shared her connection to English or were in another department, it didn’t matter. 

“[The notes] were a really cool way to connect with other people.”

“[The notes] were a really cool way to connect with other people,” she said. “It evolved from issues with the room to more friendly conversation between people.”

Krug never did learn who her semester-long pen pals were, but she still feel connected to them all.

It seems little, colored, paper squares can mean so much more than what’s written on them — because even the simplest gesture can truly stick with you.