School's best buildings hidden

THE MISANTHROPE By ETHAN CHATAGNIER

Walking fifteen minutes each way to my French class which, naturally, is in a science building, gets me to the campus less traveled by, where I get to see Fresno State’s newest secret.

Though not very creatively named, Science II is actually a nice-looking building. Even with ongoing construction and an inner courtyard full of mud and only mud, it still tops most of the other structures around campus.

The education building and the newer end of the music building also show some interesting design but unfortunately are overshadowed by such architectural travesties as McLane Hall and the Peters Building.

Peters, which rumor has it is a converted penitentiary, is one of the most distinctive landmarks on campus. Sadly, though, it is just a hulking five-story U of solid concrete. The bleak gray tower does little to brighten our foggy Valley winters.

For a break from that unforgettable monument, though, take a walk through McLane. If you're not familiar with it, it's the one the color of old gym socks smack dab in the middle of campus. I can only assume that Mr. McLane did something very bad to have this building named after him.

If our lay of land didn’t have as much potential, the problem might not seem so bad. The path from the rose garden to the Free Speech Area is attractive, but edged on one side by the group of Psychology, Family and Food Science, McKee Fisk and Social Sciences, and on the other side by the Peters Building and the Learning Resource Center trailers.

Those four buildings on the western side of the Free Speech area, as out of style as shag carpet, surround what would make a nice quad if the trash were cleaned out of it and the buildings weren’t so nasty.

The new construction, the new installation that might actually make our campus look good, should be made highly visible. Instead, it’s tucked away in the back corner of campus.

Unless you have French in Science II, or some other class equally unrelated to science, you aren’t very likely to see it.

Instead, we plop trashy portables down in some of the most visible and highly-trafficked areas on campus: the Peters Building lawn and Music Building amphitheater.

Those designing our campus have apparently forgotten how to put our best foot forward. But lets hold out and hope the next time the school invests in a building, they take care to place it somewhere people will notice.