New Look Loses History

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Despite graduating just this past May, I could not avoid the bustle that is everyone returning to school a few days early to settle in, meet old friends, and have a few good times before getting bogged down with classes. In an attempt to run into some old friends, I too went to campus this past Saturday, to be engulfed by the atmosphere, people, and surroundings that had been my home for the last 4 years. I reminiscenced about the many good times spent at Villanova and many of the changes that had taken place on campus. Since I started just 4 years ago, Ceer was just opened, Mendel and Bartley were refinished, a green house was built, 4 new apartments were added, and a new health center began to take shape. Throughout all these changes, I saw how they modernized the campus and made it even more beautiful. There was one changed, however, that shocked and displeased me greatly. These renovations for the future removed some of the past, something that was just left on campus a mere 3 months ago. As I watched Mendel being renovated through my freshmen year, and Bartley the rest of my tenure, I didn’t see a complete removal of the past. The original buildings were left and I wasn’t there long enough to know exactly how they had been before I arrived anyway. However, this past Saturday, one of the things I wanted to see wasn’t there. I began to walk through the quad and thought the new landscaping there was very nice. I noticed the nice new stone road that replaced the blacktop of years past, and it was then that I realized what I had come to see was missing. I wanted to see the paw print that represented my class, the Class of 2002, on the walkway of paw prints through the quad. I know it was there last May, because I had seen a picture of it, but I wanted to visit it, since that was something I was a part of and had not yet seen. And it was gone. I know this is a very minute point, and the blacktop and curbs may have been an eyesore, but it was a piece of Villanova history that I had seen since my freshmen year and awaited having my class be a part of ever since, that has been erased and forever removed from the campus. As the school continues to renovate, build, and relandscape for the future, it is important that it does not forget about its past. Long live Villanova and Welcome to the Class of 2006. Get ready for some great times.Sincerely,John SurryClass of 2002