Dear Frosh,
Welcome to Queen’s. Don’t forget your hard hat.
It’s unlikely the University has told you that you are arriving at a time of tumultuous transition and extensive construction. It is a lot easier for the school to focus on the beautiful new buildings they will enjoy in the future, and play down the burden this places on current and incoming of the Queen’s community.
In Fall 2006, Queen’s will welcome many changes to its campus. In addition to projects aimed at cosmetically improving Union and University Streets, three coffee shops will be added to the campus: The Tea Room, an environmentally friendly tea and coffee shop will be operating; a café will also be added in the previously underused Victoria Hall basement common room. The third coffee shop will open in the lobby of Stauffer Library, but not until Thanksgiving. This raises an important question: do students really need another place to buy coffee? With Stauffer already becoming a social meeting place, adding a coffee shop won’t improve the number of distractions students already experience while trying to study. Also, because it was not built during the summer break, it will now be another needless interruption during an important time in the school year.
This is all without mentioning the mother of all construction projects: the Queen’s Centre. Phase one will begin this year, and construction will continue for at least 15 years. An entire block of houses must be knocked down, with clearing expected to take months. The dust, road closures, and ongoing noise from the digging up of pipes and underground infrastructure is bound to interfere with students daily activities as well as their overall satisfaction with campus life.
The Queen’s Centre construction was pre-planned and expected, but it seems that the other renovations are either unnecessary or poorly timed. The campus atmosphere is a big part of why many students come to this university. Due to the volume of ongoing construction projects, many will miss this part of Queen’s. We recognize the need for Queen’s to grow, and we wouldn’t want to stand in the way of progress. But unfortunately for you, dear Frosh, although you will spend four years enduring extensive construction, you won’t reap the eventual benefits.
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