Liberty University is known as the world's largest Christian university. As such, we are always growing, expanding, and broadening our horizons. Last year, Liberty hit the 1 billion dollar milestone of money spent on construction since the founding of the school in 1971. The construction is beneficial to the school as a whole; however, sometimes I think that the school tackles too many projects at once and focuses too heavily on the projects that are less important. For instance, right now off the top of my head I can list off four projects that are ongoing. Out of all of them, perhaps one of the most pressing is the need for a new parking garage. However, the groundwork has looked the same for over a year now, while other projects have been springing from the ground up in a mere matter of months.

Last year, our school's president, Jerry Falwell, Jr., announced the blueprints for the extension of the Vines Center, a central building in which all residential students meet two to three times a week for Convocation (a large Christian gathering with motivational speakers and worship music). The plans were all good and fine: plans to build a basketball stadium, so the games no longer had to be held in Vines.

First and foremost, the blueprints eliminated the parking lot where all the central buses used to come, so the bus routes are all weird and messed up. Secondly, Vines is right next to a huge academic building and the library, both of which students need to access easily. Due to the construction, students are forced to resort to detours, which are difficult considering that it's still summer in Virginia and still 90-something degrees with high humidity every day. Third, it's really, really difficult to fit upwards of 15,000 students through, at most, 10 doors for Convocation. Then, students have to wait in line to go through security and bag checks, which is fine; but the fact that there are so many people going through such a small space makes it inconvenient.

Also, getting out of Convocation is an absolute nightmare. Our speaker on Wednesday ran about 20 minutes late and finished at around 11:50, which is rough for the students who have classes at noon (such as me) because we have to scramble to class. Last year, I could get out of Vines just fine, but this year, thousands upon thousands of students were herded into a small, gated area (because of the construction) where we had to slowly funnel our way out into the walkways. It was like the human equivalent of stand-still, bumper-to-bumper traffic. The professors were contacted about Convocation running late, and all students were allowed an extra 10 minutes to get to class. However, with a class that's all the way on the other side of campus, considering it was so difficult to exit the building itself and also factoring in bus routes that are strange and unfamiliar due to the construction detours, more than 10 minutes were needed. I didn't end up getting to class until 12:24. Thankfully, I was given grace due to the situation, but I really don't think that the system we have right now for Convocation is effective, and I hope that the higher-ups will realize and at least try to do something about it.

I appreciate all that the school is trying to do, but sometimes it feels like we are trying to be showy. Take for instance the Freedom Tower, which was completed this past spring. The old religion hall was demolished to build a new School of Business, and the Tower now is home to religion classes. The tower is a huge, grand, multimillion dollar project, and stands as the tallest building in Lynchburg. But I wonder, was that much truly necessary? Is a 275-foot, 15-story grandiose building truly necessary for just one specific category of classes? I don't know. What I do know is that the campus is a whole jumbled mess of construction and that many students are bothered and inconvenienced by it. The university is spending so much money on construction that they're running out of money to allocate where necessary, such as security at Convocation. Now, RAs are required to stand-in and help which never used to be a part of their job, and tuition, room and board are being raised. I sometimes wish that the school would stop trying to do so many things at once and just let the university BE for a few moments of peace.

All good things come in time, but sometimes Liberty seems to want it all at once.