Construction on Campus

I think they're putting in bike racks

I know that some of the construction is that the bricks will be smoother so students in wheelchairs or on crutches and such can get around campus easier and also safely.

 How come we are spending all this money on repairing bricks on campus when people are losing their jobs and we are having to raise tuition 14%? That doesn't make any sense to me.

The stuff by the bus stop at Haggard is bike racks.

The construction at college hall is because they are putting in an elevator.

Pretty simple answere: People are losing their jobs and students are seeing increases in tuition due to a shortfall in state funding to the university's operating budget.  Subsequently, the university is able to repair bricks and make other minor improvements around campus because the university's capital budget did not recieve such drastic cuts.  Many of the minor capital projects Western requested funding for were approved and funded by the state legislature during the recently ended legislative session.  The funding for Western's capital budget, and thus capital projects like repairing the bricks, is entirely separate from the funding for Western's operating budget, which determines the number of faculty positions Western must cut over the next two years.  Consequently, if Western were to stop these minor capital projects (repairing bricks, fixing pipes, bringing buildings like Miller Hall up to current code), we would see no improvements in our operating budget (jobs, tuition, departmental programs).

I'd rather the university spend money and put some local workers to work to do something that gives the campus added value and safety than burning that money on lawyers when someone hurts themselves on ragged bricks and decides they need to sue the school.  Just my .02