On Monday, after a failed attempt to prevent students from walking through the fenced-in construction site behind Baker Library, the College officially closed and locked the gate.
"The next three to four years of construction are going to be very disruptive for people walking around campus," Computing Services spokesman Bill Brawley said.
This week, a police officer guarded the east gate opening on Elm Street to assist delivery trucks at the loading dock and ensure students do not enter the construction area, which was formerly a heavily traveled student route.
Police Officer Robert Pschudin said most students have been compliant with the street closure and either walk all the way around the fenced area or cut through the Reserve Corridor of Baker Library.
Many students complain that the fence causes an inconvenience for those going to classes in the Gerry and Bradley Halls or just wishing to pass through on Elm Street.
"It's a pain to walk around. I think anybody that lives on either side of campus feels that way," Margaret Kuecker '01 said.
Samir Desai '00, who lives in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house just outside the fenced-off area, said "it makes commuting to class more difficult, especially when a line develops outside of the revolving door of Baker Library because there are so many people" trying to cut through.
Math Instructor Jin-Yen Tai said "about five students" were late to his class yesterday morning, all of whom blamed their tardiness on the locked fence and the alternative route they were forced to take.
Some students said they even had to climb over the fence to get to Gerry Hall math building after entering the construction site through the exit of the Reserve Corridor.
Students and faculty members said they are concerned not only with the inconvenience that the construction causes those trying to cross the area -- there have also been complaints about the increased student traffic through the Baker Reserve Corridor.
After classes, a large number of people entered the Reserve Corridor as a short-cut, distracting students who are studying.
While some students do walk around Baker Library or go upstairs through the main corridor, these students remain in the minority.
Rafael Rosengarten '01 said the Reserve Corridor "is no longer as good an area to study because it has through traffic every hour."
Though most of the detoured students cut through Baker, some people coming from the west side of campus use Kiewit Computing Center as an avenue to get to the Gerry Math building.
To address this problem, Phil Chaput, Berry Library Project manager for the Facilities Planning office, plans "to increase the visibility of the signs around" campus to help students find different routes.
But, ultimately, Assistant Director of Facilities Planning Reed Bergwall said, "it has to be students policing themselves" who must be "respectful of each other."
