Wednesday, November 19th, 2008

I graduated in four years for this?

Since stepping on campus my freshman year, my trips home have been limited almost exclusively to holidays. With my roots firmly planted in Lawrence, I hate leaving for fear of missing out on a moment of what can happen in this bustling college town. However, this year – my final one at KU – there is something going on in Lawrence I wish I wasn’t around to see.

October 3, 2007

By Shawn Shroyer

Since stepping on campus my freshman year, my trips home have been limited almost exclusively to holidays. With my roots firmly planted in Lawrence, I hate leaving for fear of missing out on a moment of what can happen in this bustling college town. However, this year – my final one at KU – there is something going on in Lawrence I wish I wasn’t around to see.

For the sake of Kansas’ football program, which has gone a 50-77 during the last 11 years, the Hill is being destroyed. And worst of all, I have a front row seat for this travesty.

After three years of unsatisfactory living arrangements, my 2007-08 school year was shaping up nicely. I was to live in a two-bedroom house close to campus with my best friend. No more buses, no more waking up two hours before class to be on time, no more parking passes, and no more refueling my truck every week.

Little did I know the major reconstructive surgery taking place on the Hill was part of the deal, too.

Now, two times a day, five days a week, I have to walk past the crater on the Hill as it’s slowly filled in to create an office building for the football program. It makes my stomach turn every time.

Ironically, while this project was undertaken for the football team’s benefit, it will most certainly disrupt Kansas fans’ game day experience this season.

Regardless of Kansas’ record on the field the last decade, fans have faithfully flocked to the Hill for the one-of-a-kind atmosphere it provides. Tents filled with college football fans and the aroma of grilled meat have popped up across the Hill for years. And most of the time fans actually stuck around to watch the Jayhawks from the Hill, regardless of how full Memorial Stadium was. There were years you could probably argue that, compared to KU football, the Hill was the main attraction on Saturday afternoons.

Now, the Hill has been chopped in half. Although the construction wasn’t supposed to obstruct the view from the hill, that wasn’t the case from my vantage point last weekend.

Tents that were placed toward the bottom of the Hill were stuck right behind the fence bordering the construction zone, plus the monstrous mounds of dirt inside the construction zone. There’s no way people in those tents could see the field. Also, those tents themselves blocked the view of the field for fans higher up on the Hill.

Even if Saturdays at Memorial Stadium are salvaged this fall, winter will no longer be the same at KU.

The section of the Hill behind JRP used to be a chief sledding spot for college students after a typical Kansas snowstorm. But this simple pleasure has been thrown by the wayside, as well. Because the construction around the stadium took out all of the student parking north of campus, the University decided the best site to relocate those lost parking spaces was the prime sledding ground behind JRP.

Here’s hoping for a warm winter. It’d be a shame for snow to be wasted on the Hill now.

To make matters worse, the Athletics Department has put up patronizing banners on the fence surrounding the construction zone, saying: “Please excuse the mess. The Hill will be back soon.” And last week the Department sent out an equally misleading e-mail with the subject: “Football Construction a Sign of Progress To Come!” The email is of propaganda about how an improved football facility will magically help an inept coach compete in the Big 12. Signed, Lew Perkins.

To be fair, Kansas does need to make some drastic changes if it ever expects to be a factor in football. Every big time football school in the Big 12 has gone to great lengths to ensure their programs have top of the line facilities. My beef is, as far as I can tell, KU is the only school that’s stepped on the toes of its student body.

Schools like Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas State, Missouri and Texas Tech were all able to add facilities near their respective stadiums that, at most, covered up what used to be parking spots.

Colorado’s football stadium and facilities are tucked comfortably into the campus. There might have been a time when the placement of Colorado’s stadium and facilities was controversial, but neither are eyesores on the campus today. They blend right in and don’t appear to block off any campus landmarks.

As for schools like Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas A&M, well, what football wants, football gets – and usually to the delight of the student body.

So why does Kansas have to be the odd school out? It’s the only Big 12 school that’s decided to tread on tradition, yet it’s doing so without being pressured by (or to appease) a legion of diehard Kansas football fans. It seems like Kansas’ only reason for adding a football facility is it’s in style. But even if Kansas football does blossom into a contender in the Big 12, it’s not going to matter to me.

This is it for me. The 2008 football season might as well be the 3008 season because, chances are, I won’t be here to enjoy it. And I realize there’s nothing that can be done to change matters. I just wish the Athletics Department wasn’t acting so cute and innocent.

Associate Athletics Director Jim Marchiony’s explanation for the new facility’s location and who had input on the project: “Athletics worked with the Administration on the Hill, and with community groups as well,” Marchiony said via e-mail. “Athletics made no decisions on location and construction without talking to folks on the Hill, notably University Architect Warren Corman.”

Well, nobody asked me for my thoughts on the project.

And as I walk down the Hill this May to say goodbye to my adopted home, the scar that grows every day at the foot of the Hill will be staring right back at me.

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