If two campus groups have their way, MSU administrators will help breathe life into their ideas and campus could be a lot greener in the future.

But these groups have different hopes. It would be wise for one group to ally closer with the other if either wants to see its dreams become reality.

ASMSU, MSU's undergraduate student government, is supporting a proposal to build an outdoor learning center or amphitheater on north campus behind Old Horticulture Building.

But members of The Student Greenhouse Project are hoping MSU officials approve the construction of a greenhouse biodome, fit with student-friendly study areas, in the same location.

Although both ideas have been proposed to administrators, neither has been officially approved.

ASMSU and The Student Greenhouse Project members have been hoping to develop the site and liven up the scenery on the north side of campus with a green structure for several years.

Plans for the greenhouse biodome were initiated in 1998, a year after the original botany greenhouse was leveled because of its poor condition.

Also in 1998, ASMSU made a pledge to donate the last $200,000 of the funding for the greenhouse project, if the students raised part of the funding beforehand.

The estimated cost of the project is $947,000, and The Student Greenhouse Project is still trying to find a way to garner the funding.

While both ideas for the unused spot behind the Old Horticulture Building would be beneficial, they are both expensive. And cost will and should be one of the main factors in deciding to add an environmental and educational structure to campus.

Besides cost, the overall use and purpose of the structure is another issue.

ASMSU and The Student Greenhouse Project members need to support each other and form a unified plan before the administration can make a decision. Both groups have a common and admirable goal of constructing a useful structure to promote environmental and educational values.

ASMSU's idea for an outdoor learning center might not be the best way to use the plot of land since it would only be available for use during warmer months.

And aesthetics also should be considered in what to do with the land plot - The Student Greenhouse Project's prospective greenhouse biodome might look out of place on the north side of campus.

A combination of the two proposals into an aesthetically pleasing structure that might house a greenhouse as well as a place for students to study is the better option.

Regardless of what issues might complicate matters, both projects should be considered and tweaked. Both groups vying for the land's use should join forces and create plans for an environmentally and academically sound building that would benefit all MSU students.

The bottom line is that administrators don't have to agree to any plan; they could look over the ideas of both groups until they fade away.

ASMSU and The Student Greenhouse Project should work together to ensure administrators use the space in that best interest of students.