The editorial is the opinion of the editorial board of The Daily Eastern News.

Eastern’s Board of Trustees at its meeting today will discuss and possibly approve 30 capital projects plan for the 2002 fiscal year.

While all of these projects are important and necessary for Eastern’s campus to move ahead, 30 projects at one time is bound to get cumbersome to Eastern’s students.

Some of the projects are a continuation of work that is already being done, like Booth Library and the Food Court, but most of the projects are new. The projects include locations all over campus, which means Eastern essentially will be torn up from end to end during 2002.

Some projects include replacement of Blair Hall windows, the installation of the chilled water loop in the South Quad, landscaping in front of Old Main, remodeling of the bookstore in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union, and the construction of a baseball stadium. But, perhaps the biggest project planned for next year involves closing Seventh Street and beginning construction of the health and career services building south of Klehm Hall.

Many of these projects will directly impact students. They will have to walk around it on their way to class, they will have classes in different buildings because of it, they may even have class in a building while construction is going on. Even the residence halls will be under construction while a sprinkler system is installed in various halls.

Throughout all of this work, the university must continue to keep students its first priority. It is obvious that the university is planning all of these improvements as a way to attract more students, keep students and help them to enjoy their time here. Unfortunately, the students who will benefit most from it are not on campus yet.

So, for the more than 10,000 students who are on campus, life may be difficult for the next several years. We will live through the construction and never see the finished product, in most cases, until we visit during Homecoming weekend.

The university must continue to keep the needs of current students in mind as they plan and implement this work. Simple things like making sure students can still get around campus easily will help current students feel they are an important part of the university.