Rumor has it Booth Library is finally re-opening on Thursday. And as long as some kind of Valentine’s Day massacre doesn’t take place, it actually looks like it’s going to happen this time.

The Booth renovation has been the center of many students’ frustrations with this university during the past three years. The college crowd on campus has grown sick of wandering around construction fences and tolerating continued delays.

But with Booth opening its new doors on Thursday, all of that is over with, right? Hardly. In fact, the Booth and Food Court projects are just the tip of the iceberg, the tail of the Panther, so to speak.

If you think you’ve had it bad, just wait and see what kind inconveniences and likely delays students will incur in the next 15 years. Over the next decade or two, when, and if, any of us come back to visit, we’re going to encounter a campus enduring a costly, and likely messy, face lift.

By that time, Seventh Street will be permanently closed, essentially turning Eastern into a pedestrian campus. The expansion of the Doudna Fine Arts Center will stretch across where the street used to be. New parking will appear south of the Tarble Arts Center, replacing a few tennis courts. The Health Services building will be knocked down, and a new one will be built in between Thomas and Klehm halls.

The Physical Science Building will be renovated as will the Life Science Builidng and the Student Services Building. New textbook rental, science, chemical storage, computer network and central storage buildings will be constructed.

The Tarble Arts and Student Recreation centers will undergo additions, a new Greek Court housing unit will be erected and a new print center will be built. Let’s not forget a new student suite housing unit, an astronomy observatory, a university life-long learning center, student apartment housing and a 10,000-seat convocation center are all also among Eastern’s plans for the next 15 years.

The casualties? The Booth House, Brainard House, Linder House, Life Science Annex and International House. They are all slated to be demolished to make room for these projects which are all listed in Eastern’s Master Plan.

All that makes the Booth and Food Court projects look like mere appetizers to a very large meal. Future students should probably stock up on their antacids because to finish off that hearty feast, there’s sure to be a lot of discomfort.

All the nuisances will be worth the wait, but for who? Many students will put up with the inconviences that come along with such construction projects and never benefit from them. But that’s not what’s most important.

The selfish attitude would be to ask this university, “What’s in it for me?” Continued delays and inconviences had me asking this school that very question for the past three years.

But after touring the newly-renovated, nearly-completed Booth last Wednesday, my selfish attitude changed with the drop of a jaw. I am convinced when students wander through the new library on Thursday what they’ll see is beyond their wildest imaginations. To be honest, it just doesn’t seem to belong at Eastern. It almost seems too good. It’s in a class of its own compared to all the other facilities on this campus.

But what we should realize is that nothing is too good for this university, one that has been neglected for far too long. And the long list of construction projects is the only way Eastern can put itself at the level it belongs.

The new Food Court, and especially the renovations in Booth, are impressive to say the least. And if future construction projects are maintained at such a high level, then I’m convinced in 15 to 20 years, this university will be a much greater image of its former self.

And while it is difficult to put up with the daily hassles such projects put forth, it’s important to remember we all came to this school for a reason. The majority of us have given Eastern a large chunk of change in exchange for an education and an experience we’ll never forget.

And while many of us will have to put up with a few nuisances in our time here, it should be worth it to know that what we’re enduring is laying the foundation for much greater experiences for others in the future.

In 15 to 20 years when you make it back to this campus, which feeling will outweigh the other? The pains of dealing with pestering construction projects two decades ago or the pride of barely recognizing your alma matter because it’s become so superior to what it once was?

I’ll take the pride.