Surely he can fix it – yes, he can! Since move-in day many years ago, West Chester University has been in the midst of non-stop construction in hopes of edging their way ahead of the competition of rival schools with better facilities, more aesthetic landscaping and glitzier academic halls.
With concrete still being poured as I walk to classes, this push for beauty has become a distraction from routine. With master plans to revamp our university, WCU has fallen behind the curve, and as we all know, deadlines are deadlines. So why is there still construction going on weeks into the semester? An entire summer has come and gone leaving plenty of time for the concrete to settle. Construction projects long overdue have chewed into our fall semester. Now we are faced with a race to completion before the weather turns.
Poor Ruby Jones Hall was crumbling both inside and out before we patched the historic building. Mitchell Hall was an unused structure and took what seemed to be forever until language classes could settle back in. All in all, the construction has been constant, and it’s upsetting that projects have not been completed prior to move-in day.
I remember seeing sod rolled like red carpet onto our new Quad just days before the masses began arriving on campus – final landscape projects scrambling to the finish before move-in day to ensure Mom and Dad wouldn’t bat an eye. As students rush from one class to the next, I’m certain they will be diverted on their routes by paint drying on Old Library, or bricks being laid on the sidewalks outside Lawrence.
Interestingly, the brand new turf football field and complementary royal purple track were finished earlier than expected. Yet, thousands of students on North Campus have to cross University Ave. without so much as a crosswalk just to dodge construction.
Seems like the priorities are clearly straight. Maybe some more blue light systems could be added to the never-ending WCU Construction “To-Do” list. They’ll get to it eventually.
Michael Moriarty is a fourth-year student majoring in communication studies. He can be reached at MM807327@wcupa.edu.