Inspiration struck President Lou Hencken this summer while looking at the construction view through the Bridge Lounge windows.

He wants to fix them, but not because they are broken. Instead he wants to turn them into artwork.

“Etched into the glass will be some Great Beginnings in literature – the first line of a great book, or a great play, or a great poem, or a great speech – that echoes down to us over the ages,” he said during his speech after the faculty luncheon on Aug. 30.

During his speech, Hencken titled the window project “Great Beginnings.

Tuesday, the window committee met for the first time to begin the process of accepting submissions and narrowing them down.

Students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members can contribute quotes. The committee tentatively will begin accepting those around April.

In between time, Steve Shrake, Eastern’s design and construction manager, will work with an architect; Jeff Cooley, vice president for business affairs; and the Union Staff to determine what the windows will look like.

All the windows on both sides of the Bridge Lounge would be replaced during the project, but only the 19 windows overlooking the North Quad would have quotes.

“We get a lot of guests that come to this building, their view of campus is through those windows,” Hencken said.

Right now, they are looking through something ugly, he added.

One concern Cooley mentioned during the meeting was that etching glass weakens it.

“I think we’d have a lot of broken glass,” Shrake said.

Instead, the two suggested using an applique, which could be printed in house and stuck to the window. This would be more cost-effective and allow some flexibility if 20 years down the line, the quotes needed to be changed, Cooley explained.

All committee members and Hencken agreed that this was a good idea.

Committee Chair Ann Brownson made another suggestion that different fonts be used according to the tone of the quote.

So a curvier font would be used for a flowery quote, she said.

The committee will meet at 11 a.m. Tuesday to further clarify how submissions will be gathered and decide the maximum length they can be.

If everything goes according to schedule, the project should be completed before Homecoming 2008.

“I’ve had a lot of opportunities to cut ribbons,” Hencken said. “It will be nice to have it (this project) be the first ribbon for the new president.”