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Show There was something behind it after all lifted, for a time, from their tired beams. But still the students came,thicker and faster, quarter by quarter pressing down on the campus walls and gates. There was no need for fear, however; for by this time, about 1964, the Master Plan was completed and drawn up. The Planner's dream was ready to take shape. So for the next six years the little campus saw more growth and change than it had seen since the year it was founded. The grounds were a perpetual turmoil of dirt and bulldozers; cranes and steel beams forever stretched into the sky. Construction workers were everywhere, almost as thick as students; roads appeared and disappeared, stranding angry motorists in closed-off parking lots. Buildings popped up all over: Merrill Engineering, Business Lecture and the Library-and OSH was given two more wings. Outsiders looked at the campus and thought, "What an eyesore!" Alumni looked at the campus and thought, "What a mess!" Students looked at the campus and cursed, "How can I ever get from the Music Hall to the Annex in fifteen minutes?" But the Planning Director looked at the campus and knew that it was good. He saw the congestion every day at 10:45 on the obnoxious Fifteenth East, running behind the Union; he saw angry motorists honking at students trying to cross their street, while the angry students ignored the honking motorists trying to cross their path, (meanwhile everyone being late to their 11:00 class). He saw all this. One day the pesty road was no more. Soon wide white sidewalks led everywhere, from one edge of campus to another. Just when it seemed as though everything were done, construction began on the Sports and Special Events Center, the huge dome resting like a silver crown over the entire work. Today, about twelve years and 60 to 80 million dollars after its first 68 il 3Q r\ conception, the Master Plan is in its final stages of completion. All that remains now is the remainder of the Fine Arts Complex, along with some fountains, tree and grass planting. This is to be finished by the end of summer or late fall 1970. The old Circle Buildings are still intact, still smothered in the flavor of their vines and moss, (although many have been remodeled inside). The elderly alumni still smile with nostalgia on their old campus, while the young look with pride on the new. Meanwhile the Campus Planners breathe a sigh of relief before beginning work on another plan for coming generations. |