TL;DR: The swingset near the SLC has been removed after breaking twice, and there seem to be plans for this decision to be made permanent. Please sign this petition to reverse that choice.

Closer to the beginning of this semester (Fall 2025), the nicer dormside swing set (closest to SLC) was broken and police-taped off for many days. On September 15th, on my way back to dormside from classes, I noticed that the swing set had been fixed, was no longer taped off, and (most importantly) was not being used. In my joy, I decided to take a moment to swing. After a few minutes of swinging, the swing set broke again, and I fell off, injuring my ankle and foot.

I called the service desk, reached voicemail, and left a message. A few minutes later, I got a call back and was told that support staff would be there soon, and was transferred to campus safety to report my injury. Due to how the swing set broke, I was asked to stay nearby to ensure no other student rode it before support staff arrived. I turned away four people who could not see that it was broken until I pointed it out. After waiting over 30 minutes at the swing set, neither the support staff nor campus safety had arrived, and I had to leave. The next day, the swing set was back to being police-taped up. And now, as I'm sure you all are aware, the swing set has been completely removed, and the area is being primed for grass to grow.

The swings on campus capture a special spirit that can rarely be replicated elsewhere. I personally am furious that the solution to a broken swing set was its permanent removal. The swings were advertised to me, and they had become a small but important reason I chose RIT. I'm sure I am not alone in feeling this way, as the swings were constantly full and quite popular before this set broke (and the one that remains is still always full). Personally, after I was ignored by both support staff and campus safety and had no communication afterward, other than being included on a service ticket, I am outraged. This is not how this problem should be resolved. Removing the swing set was the wrong choice; RIT students deserve a sound replacement.

On top of the issue of them being replaced, how were they fixed only to break the day they reopened to the public? There needs to be a serious review of the structural integrity of structures that could pose potentially dangerous consequences. RIT students should absolutely not have to fear an object that has been fixed by RIT service staff. How did this happen, and how can we be sure it won't happen again? I ended up being okay by luck, rest, and chance. But if I did not have those, it would have taken me out of school for days or weeks, which is unacceptable for a school such as RIT.

Please sign this petition and tell your fellow swing-enjoying friends to do the same. It would be a shame to go to RIT for multiple years and have only 2 swings on the entire campus.

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Replace the Removed Swing set, Swing Safety