Remember those detours of first semester?

Construction on the cafeteria is still running on schedule and will be completed for the fall 2009 semester, according to Associate Vice President for Facilities Administration Joseph Rubertone, but construction in the student center and existing cafeteria will create a few detours for Quinnipiac students en route to Tator Hall and the student center.

In order to enter the Quad and surrounding area, students will have to take the detour used last semester for the entirety of next year. The path closest to the student center and cafeteria will be off limits, as the area will be used as a construction site. Students will have to walk past the library and along the straight path and use the entrance by Alumni Hall to access the student center and Tator Hall.

Matt Galo, a junior media productions major, said sarcastically of the construction, “It’s going to be fun” before adding, “In the words of Joe Rubertone, ‘It is going to get worse before it gets better.'”

“But it’s necessary,” Galo, an SGA representative for the Class of 2010, said. “The end result is going to look really good.”

When told that an area of the Quad will be used as a construction site, freshman PT major Chloe St. Rose was a bit wary.

“That is a huge part of the Quad,” St. Rose said. “A lot of the beauty will be lost if we just have construction here.”

Students also voiced concerns about the detour, which will add time and traffic on their walk to class.

“I wish they would get it done over the summer, so it doesn’t affect us,” St. Rose said.

Additionally, students will only be able to enter the cafeteria through the new dining addition. To get to class in Tator Hall, they will need to exit from the same place, walk outside, and reenter the building near Alumni.

Rubertone also said that there would be an attempt to make things more convenient for students by providing an Outtakes deli case in the hall of Alumni.

Despite student complaints about limited seating, Rubertone explained that the number of seats will be the same for next year. The majority of seating will lie in the addition to the cafeteria and starting in 2010, the cafeteria will be able to seat double the amount of people it currently can.

Although students may find these changes for next year bothersome, most agree that the finished product will be very beneficial and are looking forward to the project’s completion. The addition of a complete second story to the existing cafeteria will allow students direct access from the cafeteria to the second story of Tator Hall.

“They’re not doing this to inconvenience the students,” Galo said. “They’re trying to make the school better.”