By Lytle Wurtzel
Cavalier Daily Associate Editor
Indiana Jones would be proud: the construction of the "Great Circle Route" has students scrambling up hills and sneaking stealthily around buildings.
For anyone who has attempted to navigate their way between Newcomb and Peabody Hall in the last few days, they've no doubt found their path blocked by a red wooden divider or a banner of orange construction netting.
Passive students simply follow the detour down McCormick Road on their way to Clemons Library. More resourceful students, on the other hand, flatten themselves against the brick wall of Peabody and try to beat the system by crawling behind the bushes to Newcomb. But even MacGyver would find that the buck stops there. And so do students.
"I went with my roommate to Alderman to print something out, then we left the library and tried to walk down the path between Clemons and Newcomb," explained Nancy Tran, a frustrated fourth-year College student. "We saw the barricade there and just stopped. Then we had to walk all the way back around, past the parking lot in front of Peabody to get to Newcomb."
The construction is part of the new special collections library, which will replace Miller Hall.
The lot in front of Peabody Hall, the first to enjoy the protection of the red dividers, serves as a parking lot and command station for the construction company. But some students aren't buying that explanation.
"They've been there for a while," Tran said. "Personally, I think they live in there."
If that's the case, they had better make themselves at home: construction is expected to continue for the next 24 months.
"I'm just glad we're out of here," fourth-year College student Dana Andrews said. The detour "makes me late for class, like I am now."
However, not all students will be lucky enough to escape the headaches and hassles of the Great Circle Route in May.
"I'm a first year, so I just got here and it was all nice when I came," first-year College student Ashley Henderson said.
As she climbed the stairs to Alderman Library, Henderson jokingly added over her shoulder, "I came here because the school was beautiful. Now I'm thinking of transferring."
At "Checkpoint Alderman," the ascetics of the Great Circle Route are the least of concerns.
"The most frustrating part is the sound of that hammer," College student Larissa Gschwandtner said, pointing to a nearby construction worker. "The fact that it will continue for 24 months makes it a lot worse."
Construction workers relentlessly pound their hammers and add an occasional drilling to the symphony outside Checkpoint Clemons. Ironically, at this point, they are not laboring away on a new special collections library but, rather, on the barricades that are a source of contention themselves.
As fourth-year College student Leila Stoner said, "When you're coming home at night and it's dark, you never know who is lurking behind the walls"
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