Development could change campus and community
By Megan Krause, Campus Life writer
September 24, 2007 | 8:30 p.m.
The 67-acre hillside behind Wal-Mart, purchased by Brent Hayes, is now treeless, and local residents and Ohio University students have been vocal about their disappointment.
Some disagree over need to develop
As far as OU students are concerned, some believe that more development is not necessary in Athens. "I like that Athens is semi-secluded," sophomore Stacy Books said. "I don't think we really need anything more."
Others don't think more construction would be so bad. "If they had some good idea with good impact, I could understand it," senior Kevin Thomas said.
Junior Kaitlin Crankshaw said that one thing she misses is what separates Athens from a bigger city: the lack of a mall. "The selection [in Athens] is very limited," she said. "I can get my basics everywhere, but if I want something different, I have to branch out from Athens a bit."
Professor of chemistry and biochemistry Ken Brown doesn't deny that Athens could use more business. However, he doesn't think that clear-cutting a hill is the way to go about it. "There's got to be a way to do this without ruining this beautiful place," he said.
Junior Thomas Ross disagrees with Brown. Although he dislikes the idea of clear-cutting, he said that "[clear-cutting] is unfortunately a part of humans expanding."
Treeless hillside sparks generally negative reactions
Becky Clark, president of the Sierra Student Coalition, a campus environmental group, called the clear-cutting disgusting. "I am a local resident and don't like my land being destroyed any more than the rest of these people," she said. "But I feel that too much time and energy has gone into something that has already occurred."
Senior Jen Sickels also doesn't like seeing so much land cut away. "I think we need to keep as much green space as we can in Athens," she said. "That's a huge part of what it's like to be in Athens."
Brown agreed. "I think it's disgusting. It's an eyesore. It's ugly. I think that Brent Hayes ought to be ashamed of himself," he said. "If we keep leveling hillsides to build apartment complexes, we are going to turn this place into a prairie."
Issue affects OU campus, too
Construction also has impacted the OU campus, as it is impossible to miss the new additions to the university. Between Baker University Center and Adams Hall, the new residence hall on South Green, the campus has been developed quite a bit. Students' and faculties' opinions vary on how this has changed OU's vibe. "I don't think it's made much of a difference," Ross said. "Baker Center is pretty and all, but I just come here to do my homework."
"I don't think [the new buildings] change OU as a whole," Crankshaw said. "It does bring a new dynamic.... Everything is so historic. They're bringing in all these new things, and they kind of don't seem to fit."
Books agreed that the look of campus has been changed. "[Adams Hall] is so different from every other dorm on campus," she said. "I like the run-down, old feeling of all the other dorms."
As a member of the OU faculty, Brown adds a new perspective to the arguments. "My suspicion is that the administration wants to increase the student body," he said. Brown continued to explain that if the enrollment increases as much as the administration would like it to, then the university will need the extra living space it is building.
Sickels agreed, saying that building Baker Center was done to attract freshmen.
Although more concrete reasons exist as to the construction on campus, speculations do exist for the construction around the Athens community.
Currently no definite arrangements subsist for the property behind Wal-Mart, but plans for building law offices, a hotel or another retail business have been discussed. At this point, only an application for a permit to mine for dirt for other projects has been submitted.
Whatever the reasoning, all the construction has been significantly altering the look of both the campus and the community, and many residents, students and faculty have been speaking out about it.