The Eastern Progress: Back to campus issue
PAGE 14
Continuing with the construction of a UK style campus, Eastern demolishes the Greek Towers.
Campus upgrades turn EKU into UK style campus By KALI WATSON kali_watson@mymail.eku.edu
Eastern Kentucky University is a home for a diverse group of people. EKU is a university that is small enough to feel safe yet big enough to feel like you are a part of something. Part of the reason many students choose EKU is because it is affordable and has a small, hometown feel. With all of the new renovations and fees, our Campus Beautiful is starting to feel more like some big corporation trying to squeeze as much money out of its students as possible. Just this semester alone, stu
dents may have a fee of $150 added onto what they are already paying. This $150 fee is to pay for a new student center and recreation center that many students feel we do not need. If students are coming to EKU because it is affordable, isn’t this a giant step in the wrong direction? Students choose EKU because of the reputation it has acquired over the years. The diverse students, small class sizes and professors that strive to build relationships with their students are what incoming students are excited about. Students know they won’t be nameless faces in a classroom. If EKU is making all these
changes and turning into a larger campus, what could this mean for class sizes and the bonds we are so used to having with our professors? Is all of that just going to end because EKU wants to expand and earn more money? What is EKU planning to do to ensure students are happy? These are the questions we, as EKU students, need answers to. Our Campus Beautiful is becoming enthralled with the idea of having a University of Kentucky type campus. EKU is already expanding our football stadium, has torn down the Greek Towers to make a new fitness center (while the old one will be given
to our football team) and by the Spring 2018 semester, a new dining hall will be present in the middle of campus. Many students, my self included, feel that all of the new renovations are not as necessary as higher-ups feel they are. Students are also finding it difficult to sleep and study while all of the constant renovations are going on. A new recreation center and dining hall have nothing to do with getting a great education, especially when students are being charged more than they ever have before. The prices will continue to rise, and students, now more than ever, cannot afford to pay for the ex-
pansion of campus. Students who chose EKU for their higher education based on the school being affordable are being let down by all the fees being forced on them by the very same school they chose because they were trying to avoid those fees. As well as the students who are disappointed in the campus growing because they wanted to go to a smaller university. As much as EKU may believe they are doing right by their students, many of us are not happy and will continue to be let down until we feel we are being heard.