Wednesday, January 21, 2009
There’s a great mystery in front of and across from Watson library this year: large-scale construction and larger-scale holes that don’t seem to move. It’s a mystery that never should have been. The construction next to Bailey Hall was completed recently, but students and faculty are still in the dark about plans for remaining construction projects. The University should be more forthcoming with information pertaining to the construction at Watson and other construction jobs around campus.
The current line of information about construction comes from the Department of Construction Management. University Relations puts out whatever info DCM shares with it. University Relation’s medium for communication is a bi-monthly magazine, The Oread.
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The construction next to Bailey Hall was completed recently, but students and faculty are still in the dark about plans for remaining construction projects.
From the April 7, 2008, edition of The Oread, one learns that the current construction is a three-phase project that will cost $8.9 million and last until 2010. Depending on what phase we’re in, different roadways are closed. That’s about all the information that has been published, so even students who are inquisitive and resourceful can’t get the full scoop.
Though DCM plans to provide University Relations with more information by the end of January, some students want to know what’s going on, and they want to know now. The University isn’t doing enough to keep students updated.
Here’s a late effort from The Kansan: The purpose of the construction is to repair and modernize steam tunnels that were built in 1900. DCM Director Jim Modig described them as “arteries” for the university: housing steam pipes, electrical cords, and data cables.
Phase one is “virtually complete,” and all that remains to be done is to reconstruct the landscape. Completion of this phase has been delayed. Modig said the contractors waited too long into autumn to begin this last process, so now seasonal conditions aren’t conducive to replanting the lost flora.
The other phases deal with steam tunnels that are under other parts of the campus. Phase two won’t come into effect until the summer, when it’s less of an inconvenience to close campus roads. Phase three will come later and will close the sidewalk between Watkins Memorial Health Center and Robinson Center.
The line of communication is long and filtered, but it doesn’t have to be. If delays occur in either phase two or three, where will the information come from?
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Comments
Editorial: University leaves students in dark about construction
I agree with this column 100%. The University should have been more forthcoming with this information.
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