Dear Editor:
Since the beginning of summer, fences have sprouted up all over the Laramie campus of the University of Wyoming. For each of projects, they are probably reasonable and responsible temporarily.
It has been impossible to walk around significant parts of the campus in any logical manner, however, including getting to Old Main, the architecturally beautiful administrative building. The western border of the campus has been fenced off since the beginning.
The fences on campus are still going up into mid to late October. The recent ones go up and very little time is spent doing work within their confines. No apparent work has been done along 9th Street and the street has been long since repaved, where the western fences are located for weeks.
The fences do not go down after completion of apparent work. There is clearly no oversight by the university to ensure that people can actually walk around campus once work is done, even if it is for only a month or more, between work.
The university closed one of its most popular parking lots (the "Union parking lot 109") at the end of May. The replacement is a new parking structure, which I heartily approve of and use even though its cost is significantly higher than the Union lot.
Walking from the structure into the main campus is currently blocked by fences. Unnecessarily walking around buildings unnecessarily is irritating and a real problem for people with handicaps. To add insult to injury, workers now park trucks blocking sidewalks that are obvious paths from the structure to the main campus.
The fences are put up and taken down in a matter of minutes, which I have watched earlier in October. I have a message for my valued and 25+ year good friend, Ed Seidel, president of the university:
Mr. Seidel, tear down these fences, to paraphrase a famous speech by another notable president (of the U.S., however), Ronald Reagan in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on June 12, 1987.
Sincerely,
Craig Douglas
Laramie
