The construction going on throughout TCU, despite its good intentions, is a hassle for current students. Terrible parking has become worse and walkways across campus have been detoured or cut off completely. “Texas Construction University” is an apt nickname many students have adopted for our school.Upon completion, the more than $100 million main campus overhaul will be a fantastic sight to see: arcade walkways, amphitheaters and a five-story bell tower. In its current state, however, the main campus looks like some ugly mining expedition.

Imagine if TCU had decided to take twice as long for the entire renovation, but built individual buildings much quicker. Current students could have benefitted from at least some of the planned buildings.

Or perhaps the entire process could have been built in three simple phases, much like the Berry Street renovation. At any given time at least part of our main campus would have remained in tact while the other was restricted to Caterpillars and hole-drillers.

Freshmen who visited TCU prior to enrolling are no doubt shocked to find much of what they saw last year is entirely different. A bulldozer sits where Frog Fountain once stood. Freshman students’ first two years will be marred by memories of navigating orange fencing, squinting through dusty wind kicked up by earth-movers, and listening to the banging of metal on metal. Seniors might remember their last year as “the year TCU disappeared.”

Construction will always be a headache for all parties involved, but TCU’s Vision in Action committee should have voted to build our new campus in smaller bites, rather than one large cumbersome chunk.

While spending so much time (and money) focusing on TCU’s future students, it would seem many administrators have forgotten about those already here.

News editor John-Laurent Tronche for the editorial board