The construction will not be finished until mid-September, leaving the fences up for graduation weekend.
When we saw the fences go up and construction start around the Class Gateway, we had an immediate fear: Would it be an eyesore come graduation weekend in April?
Indeed, university officials said, it would.
For now, the construction might only make your walk on Union Street a bit more inconvenient, but graduation weekend will be another beast entirely. Thousands of newly-minted graduates will reasonably expect to have their photographs taken there, as generations of Bobcats have.
Unfortunately, since the fences will be up until the fall, that tradition won’t continue this year. Graduating students will be disappointed, and understandably so. The construction won’t be finished until mid-September.
We understand there is seldom a perfect time to fence off a large portion of College Green, but we’d gladly trade an obstructed homecoming and a later project deadline for a picturesque graduation. This isn’t the first time a construction project has obstructed a major university event, either.
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We’re glad officials are taking steps to fix what they say are unsafe tunnels underneath the sidewalks, but we hope they go one step further: salvage the situation somehow by opening the streetscape for just one day in late April. Every senior (and his or her parents) deserves a proper photo of them in cap and gown, in front of an idyllic OU monument.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post's executive editors: Editor-in-Chief Emma Ockerman, Managing Editor Rebekah Barnes and Digital Managing Editor Samuel Howard. Post editorials are independent of the publication's news coverage.
