Whether it’s forced you to drive into campus on Reineking or enter WAK through the basement, the construction at Lakeland has been impossible not to notice.
And that’s okay. To paraphrase Senior Vice President for Administration Dan Eck, who’s managed the project since it started, most at Lakeland realize the temporary inconvenience is going to give the campus an entrance that will leave visitors with a favorable lasting impression of the college.
But if the first time you noticed major construction was about to start was when the inconvenience did, that’s not okay. Nor is it okay if the first time you considered the work’s implications, like the trees that would need to be cut down to make room for the project, was when you heard the chainsaws buzzing.
One of the Mirror editors was taken aback the day the trees were cut down in mid-May. He thought, at that moment, that removing the trees seemed out of character for Lakeland, a college that has always seemed to base its identity somewhat on its natural surroundings. Others on campus probably thought similarly in that moment.
Look, this piece isn’t meant to criticize the fact that Lakeland had to knock down some trees so it could have a memorable front entrance for the first time in its history. To the contrary. Eck, who admitted that the day the chainsaws came out was a dramatic one said that since then more trees have been planted than were removed, a commendable action for Lakeland to take in an effort to stay true to its character.
Really, this wasn’t meant to criticize anyone—just to encourage people to stay well-informed about things that matter in whatever ways they can. No one should have been surprised when the trees came down. Information on the construction has been available for months, long before it started in April, located everywhere from the Lakeland website to the Lakeland Mirror.
With all the things Lakeland people have to worry about—classes, work, relationships—it can be difficult to stay well-informed. From now on, stay up on the news—at Lakeland, in your hometown, in the world.
Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.” Again, this piece wasn’t written to suggest anyone’s life is beginning to end because a few trees were cut down. It was written to encourage a better-informed Lakeland citizenry.