Construction projects utilize campus space

Students will notice a few major changes to USC upon return after summer vacation, which provided the perfect time for construction and renovations.

"Students will find the campus grounds looking very beautiful," Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Gene Luna said. "They will also see how the new residence hall on Main and Blossom is progressing. Same for the new baseball stadium."

In addition to the progression of the new residence hall, which will house honors college freshmen, students can look forward to the remainder of the construction of the Special Collections Library behind the Thomas Cooper Library.

The addition to the library, which costs $18 million according to University Libraries Advancement Web site, will be the home to special collections and rare books as well as meeting rooms, offices and a mini theater.

Students can also look forward to additional parking spaces with the new parking garage.

"The new garage on the Horizon Block should be ready to open," Luna said. "With another parking garage opening, there should be more parking available."

Luna said that most of the halls are still accessible to students and some halls have even added accessibility for students with disabilities.

The special collections addition to the library and new residence hall are scheduled to be completed by the 2009 fall semester and the baseball field should be complete this year, Luna said.

Holly Paine, a third-year psychology student, said she thinks money could be better spent than on the library addition.

"Though the addition of the rare books collection would be an asset to our school, I believe that the university should take care of its students first," she said. "Housing is a major issue with acceptance being so high and limited housing, students are forced to find housing off campus. The addition of the rare books not only takes needed space from McBryde, it takes needed funding that could be used to build more dorms. I think that before we add more books to the library, we should add space to housing."

Luna said the explanations for the costs of the projects, but did not provide an estimate for any of them.

"The cost varies project by project and has to be approved by our Board of Trustees and various state agencies. This ensures that careful consideration is given to the need for a project and that the costs are within normal construction costs," he said. "For our university to move forward and provide the quality of education we think is needed, our buildings and residence halls need to be well-maintained and new facilities built to handle the increased demand we have from students."