More than 8,000 new freshmen are seeing millions of dollars spent on a changing campus.

The construction doesn’t spring up randomly, however.

The 2020 Vision: A Community Concept for the MSU Campus, or the Campus Master Plan, is a series of ideas and potential construction projects intended to upgrade and add on to parking areas, buildings and campus transportation.

There are several components of the Campus Master Plan recently completed or under construction — the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Brody Complex Neighborhood, Wells Hall and Spartan Stadium — on campus.

But officials say this is only the beginning of MSU’s future.

The plan
The Campus Master Plan was approved by the MSU Board of Trustees in December 2001 and is updated every five years to factor in present and growing problems, Campus Planner Steve Troost said in an email.

Troost said when a project first is brought to the table, the need and funding is assessed before moving forward.

“The Campus Master Plan, which focuses on providing a long-term organizational framework for the physical organization of campus, then is used to help assess where the project will best fit into the campus setting,” Troost said in the email. “We look at it from a system approach, meaning we look at each system separately and then layer them to identify converging opportunities and constraints.”

Troost said the plan’s priorities are centered around bicycles, mass transit, pedestrians and cars.

Tearing up campus
One component of the Campus Master Plan has focused on improving the quality of residence halls.

The Brody Complex Neighborhood project is half-completed, with Bailey and Rather halls finished, but Bryan and Armstrong halls still are under construction and completion is slated for May 2013, university engineer Bob Nestle said.

Another aspect of the plan is what MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon identified as deferred maintenance, such as the Wells Hall addition, after it was determined Morrill Hall was no longer safe to occupy because of its age.

“We believe that the university will be here for a very long time, and you can’t continue to ignore deferred maintenance,” Simon said.

The new addition to Wells Hall officially opened Sept. 7, and now houses the College of Arts and Letters language departments, as well as English and history faculty who previously utilized Morrill Hall.

Spartan Stadium recently received a $10 million makeover for a new sound system and scoreboards.

On Sept. 7, the MSU Board of Trustees passed an $18 million plan to further modernize the north end zone of the stadium, among other renovations.

“Somebody should have done something about (the locker rooms) a long time ago when money seemed to be more plentiful, but it simply didn’t happen and we got to a point where health and safety was a concern,” Simon said.

Troost said the expansion of the stadium had been implemented into the Campus Master Plan since its 2001 inception.

There is no start or end date for the renovations because the project all depends on available funding, Nestle said.

Projects, such as the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, are additions to campus without immediate need.

The museum’s grand opening is scheduled for Nov. 9, after being under construction since March 2010.

Communication senior Katie Whitecar said the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum looks interesting from the outside, but the building does not fit in with the rest of campus.

“It seems like a waste of money, but I like to believe it’s not,” Whitecar said. “I’ll give it a try.”

The heart of MSU
Troost said the Campus Master Plan has a vision for the center of campus, around the intersection of Farm Lane and Shaw Lane, as the main area for improvements.

Troost said parking near the intersection ideally would be moved to parking garages and other locations, and busses would be easily accessible to and from the parking spaces, among other changes.

Despite plans for change, Whitecar said she enjoys campus in its current state.
“I like how the buildings are old,” Whitecar said. “I like the layout and how it’s big — that’s why I (came) here.”

But art history and visual culture senior Britany Benson said the improvements are worth the hassle when it comes to traveling across MSU.

“(Usually) the improvements are worth it,” Benson said. “They are doing a good job of moving around campus.”

Looking ahead
On the surface, the construction on campus might appear to be unnecessary, but there is a purpose and future behind renovations to MSU.

While projects, such as Wells Hall, came up because of safety issues, the university used the opportunity to increase the quality of the spaces.

“Wells Hall became a way of accomplishing (and) dealing with that issue but also making the academic programs better,” Simon said.

Simon said the projects are about more than just fixing a current issue — the innovations also are meant to bring MSU to the academic standards and competitiveness that students and faculty expect, while also staying within budget.

“We’re going to be here in the future and we want to grow in quality. We want to have a better experience for students tomorrow than we have today,” Simon said.

But for Benson, she expects to find Spartan Stadium and Beaumont Tower intact for years to come.
“(They are) icons for MSU,” Benson said.

“We are a really sports-oriented school (with) school spirit, and (Beaumont Tower is) historical and has been a part of campus for a long time.”