A different view of Commencement
The new football practice fields will be visible during this year’s ceremony
The fences surrounding the fields should be gone by Commencement
By Luke Morris (Contact)
Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
The walk down Campanile Hill for commencement will look quite different this year.
As graduates enter the stadium, they will see the new Anderson Family Football Complex on their left and the new football practice fields, complete with bright yellow field goal posts, on the right.
A chain-link fence currently blocks a portion of the traditional commencement walkway from the Campanile to Memorial Stadium. The fence encloses the construction site of the $31-million complex, which is scheduled to be completed in July.
Inside the fence, bare soil surrounds the cement walkway. This is where crews dug up ground during construction.
Rachel Ulrich, Lousiburg senior said she was disappointed with how the hill looked.
“It looks really bad,” Ulrich said. “I especially don’t like the mud. It’s going to be hard to make it down the hill in heels if the mud gets onto the sidewalk.”
According to associate athletics director Jim Marchiony, by the time of commencement the fence will be gone.
“The hill will be re-sodded by then, and the sidewalks will be back in place,” Marchiony said. He also said that the fence would be removed by commencement, allowing the graduates to take the traditional walk down the hill.
“It will look very good for graduation, and nothing should prevent it from being a good ceremony.”
Allison Green, Manhattan senior, said she overheard a couple students who said they wouldn’t walk down the hill for commencement because they didn’t like how it looked. Green said that she would be there, and thought that the new complex would just require some time to get used to.
“The stadium is gray and silver, and the complex looks like sandstone,” Green said.
Green said that when the complex was in earlier stages of construction, it looked “awful,” but she was glad that the area was looking better.
“As soon as they get the fence and the tractors out of the way, it should be fine,” Green said.
In February 2007, Warren Corman, University architect, told The University Daily Kansan that the complex was designed to fit in with the rest of campus and not to be a distraction during activities like commencement and football tailgating.
—Edited by Nick Mangiaracina
Discussion
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Graduation will never be the same.
Thank you KU athletics, for spoiling our beautiful campus, taking away parking spots and making getting to class inconvenient, all for a football training facility we don't need.
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