Generally Universities provide a desk with chair, two chairs for visitors and a filing cabinet. They, being the property of the University, Never leave and over time, they become worn. They are functional and that is all that can be said. If the previous owners took care of them, the furniture would be in decent shape. Otherwise, the furniture shows it's age. Not being owned by the occupants, they were not well taken care of. A university that has been operating for a long time, the furniture could have been the original. And I suspect that when an office becomes vacant, other professors take what is better than they have and leave a replacement.