With the full onset of fall and the approach of winter just around the corner, it certainly is an ugly time of the year. Most of the leaves have fallen from the trees and their pretty colors have faded as they lie in piles strewn across sidewalks.

Litter seems especially evident now, no longer hidden by layers of vegetation and free to move about in gusts of wind. The summer birds have all gone away. It’s definitely desolate out there, especially for fountains, and it makes me wonder why they are on campus at all.

There’s just nothing as stark as an empty fountain set against bleak gray skies and yellowing grass. While many people have already dug out their scarves, mittens and heavy coats — basically their entire winter arsenals — it’s hard, if not damn near impossible, to dress up a water feature.

Just try walking by the Four Seasons at Memorial Union. Unprepossessing and uninviting, it’s not the same as it was in late summer when the water flowed and the sun sparkled over its surface. That’s probably the worst part— as pretty as it can be during those assuming summer months, most of us aren’t around to enjoy it.

While all diverse in look and function, water feature appeal tends to be universal. Carl Rogers, assistant professor in landscape architecture, sums it up well by saying that “when it comes to the aesthetic beauty of water, people are attracted to the sound, the feeling and the atmosphere it provides.”

But what people sometimes fail to realize is that we have a cold, winter climate. As great and appealing as water is, cascading over stone or from the mouths of sculptures, it’s a little like that limited-time-only offer from your favorite fast food restaurant.

Rogers adds “we are just attracted to bodies of water, but it is a factor based on climate and we just don’t have a conducive climate. It requires people to think that not only will a fountain drain, but it will also have to remain in place over the winter months.”

Fall and winter reside in our campus lives for six months of the academic year. While we can’t do anything to change that, certainly we could decorate our surroundings better. Iowa State needs a little more winter interest and a lot less summer appeal.

For example, the water fountains outside of Howe Hall, painted like swimming pool interiors, look ridiculous and completely out of place now. Currently, they are half-filled with leaves. Anything would look better than a big open pit sitting there in mid-November.

It would look much improved if Iowa State removed that now-empty space and instead filled it with a bed of trees and shrubs with ornamental bark colors and evergreens. A planting bed can have nice sculptures and boulders located within it too, just to change it up a bit. The result? Year-round appeal versus a four-month water display.

As much as many people hate winter, it is a fact of life in Iowa. Even the ISU Web site tells international students: “Remember, Iowa gets cold!” Campus designers should be more accepting of this and start designing spaces for all of us, rather than just focusing on spaces that only summer students and staff can benefit from for a short portion of the year. Surely our tuition is worth more than an empty water hole six months of the year.