VSU, once a campus that many considered at the least nice, now reminds me of some less attractive campuses.  Have you seen Fort Valley? One word: Eww.
With the exception of my freshman year, most of my time on campus has been a constant annoyance.  It was my year in Converse that brought me the most annoyance with all the construction at VSU.  When I stayed in Converse my sophomore year, my day often began too early in the morning with the sounds of drills and hammers giving me 6 a.m. wake up calls.
It was not so much the noise that bothered me as it was the fact that I stayed in a room with wood panel walls, a fire hazard stove, and mold creeping behind the walls.  VSU could rip down and rebuild an entire building, but I had to just suck it up and inhale the mold.  That sounded more than fair…for the people who hadn’t even moved into Hopper Hall yet.
In the last two and a half years, my classes, sleep, and convenient walks to class have been interrupted by the constant presence of chain link fences and men in hard hats.  Two years ago, the inconvenience was the lack of student parking available due to the construction of the parking decks.
This year, the inconvenience applies to more than just the commuters.  Main campus has become a maze of chain link fences.  Unfortunately, this maze forces you around the walkways as opposed to guiding you through them.
“The construction on campus is a huge inconvenience for the students this year,” says Essence Wright, junior psychology major.      “I find it very annoying that I have to find alternative routes to arrive to class on time.”
It seems as though new construction is occurring every time I walk on to main campus.  Why does VSU insist on tearing everything down and up at one time?
“I feel construction should go on during the summer when fewer people are on campus,” says Angelica Morris, junior early childhood education major.
Despite the problems construction has created for the student body over the past couple of years, the issues associated with construction go beyond chain link fences.
Everyone talks about the recession and how VSU is making cutbacks. Now, I find it funny how I have limits on my printing in the library, which is a problem for me as an English major, and that student fees are increasing with each passing semester.              However, VSU has managed to find money to rip up the quad and the mall for new walkways.
I don’t know about you, but the walkways are the last thing I was complaining about in regards to improvement.  I have more of an issue with the chalk boards still in West Hall and the constant issues with the Internet.
With that being said, the thing that sucks the most is that those of us in our last year or two at VSU won’t be able to enjoy Valdosta in its newer and clutter-free state, but we are the ones who had the “luxury” of paying for the improvements for future Blazers.
But with the world supposedly ending in 2012, I guess it won’t matter how VSU looks.