Upon leaving Eastern University last spring, students had plans for their summer vacations. Trips, adventures, and relaxing were the usual mix of ideas. Eastern University had some pretty big plans here on campus as well.
If you haven’t noticed, McInnis Hall has been completely renovated, inside and out. And that’s only a part of the changes around campus. From the new water machines in the Dining Commons, to the kiosks at the printing stations in the library, Eastern has been busy improving in both large and small ways!
McInnis has always been a high traffic area because it houses more classrooms than any other building on campus, as well as the offices of a few departments. It has been over 40 years since McInnis has had any kind of work done, since it has been difficult to find a time appropriate to limit the use of such an important building.
At the time, Eastern had planned to begin building the new student center, so it appeared to be the opportune moment to renovate McInnis as well. Regardless of the student center’s postponement, the results of McInnis are incredible! The entire building has finally received the long-awaited face-lift it deserved.
These updates were necessary for Eastern to expand and grow as a successful community and an academic establishment. It is such an encouraging foreshadowing of the future of Eastern University, and it is wonderful for the students to take pride in the campus as well as the beautiful changes that will continue as the year progresses.
In addition to the larger changes around campus, I have also noted some of the relatively small updates.
For one, there are new water and juice machines located in the Dining Commons. We are now offered a few more options for our meals when it comes to beverages!
And for the students who don’t regularly eat in the Dining Commons, but rather use Eagle Dollars, there are options outside of Eastern’s campus for a meal! Eagle dollars can be used at a number of different locations, allowing students a more flexible lifestyle.
The last renovation is the most controversial aspect of the recent changes. The printers in Warner Library were once free to be used as often as needed. This past year, Eastern University reached record numbers in the amount of ink and paper used for printing, despite many efforts to keep the numbers low. In order to become more eco-friendly, Eastern has decided to place kiosks in front of the printer machines.
This is a suitable way to be less wasteful as the school year progresses. We can talk and say that we need to recycle and reuse paper, but in the end nothing will limit our printing as much as this new system will.
The school is to be responsible for the use as well as the waste of its materials. It is important to be conscious that other campuses have not had the same privileges Eastern students have received in the past with printing. Therefore, the staff of Eastern will see if this system can cut back on excessive waste.