The Journal

Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Photo Courtesy of the Ampersand A tennis court used to encompass the area where the Quad now stands. Campus Activities planned to hold the Mat Kearney concert on the Quad Sept. 28, but will have to relocate due to renovations.

Renovations to the Quad will begin Sept. 24 and continue throughout the next seven to eight weeks, Facilities Manager Dave Stone said after the Student Government Association's Delegates' Agenda Sept. 18.

"We're going to take out six to 12 inches of soil across the surface of the Quad, treat the soil beneath and put in new topsoil," Stone said.

The renovations will cost the university almost $100,000, Stone said, but they will also cost Homecoming attendees their venue for the Mat Kearney concert, which Campus Activities had scheduled to take place Sept. 28 on the Quad on Friday.

Representatives of student organizations debated the conflict at length with university President Richard Meyers and other administrators during the SGA meeting.
Meyers told the delegates that work on the Quad must begin immediately in order to fit into the fall planting season.

Otherwise, contractors would have to delay work until spring 2008, Meyers said.

"I hate to wait half a year to make this campus beautiful," Meyers said. "We're going to build the beautiful Quad that some of you remember. It's going to be more friendly and irrigated."

Elizabeth Eisele, SGA President and Campus Activities program manager presided over the meeting, but said afterward that while she wanted to see the Quad looking good again, she felt Meyers had done a disservice to Campus Activities, which planned the concert.

"This concert didn't spring out of nowhere. It's been planned since April," Eisele said.

Graduate Assistant for Campus Activities Katie McComb said the Mat Kearney concert is one of this year's major events, taking up most of the organization's budget for the fall semester. McComb filed a request in February to book the Quad and received confirmation in April.

This isn't the first time Campus Activities' plans have changed due to Quad renovation. During spring 2007, Springfest events had to be held in other areas of campus while the quad was roped off for re-seeding, McComb said.

Continued...

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