As a student paying for a majority of my tuition, I enjoy seeing the fruits of my financial burden.

The education I am receiving is above exemplary.

Yet, the past week I have seen much of the school’s effort going toward the re-beautification of our campus.

A question is raised; is the money our university spending on landscaping the campus well spent?

A tradition that has been well known and revered here at Elon is graduation under the oaks. It is a respected event, one many look forward to.

In a recent article in the Pendulum, students were happy to have new trees planted in court behind West. They would provide shade and comfort during commencement ceremonies.

They only problem that is foreseen is the health of these trees. An average oak tree can grow to a height of 100 ft. and its branches can span from its trunk in a radius of up to 40 feet.

The trees planted behind West are planted no more then 25 feet apart. So as these tress grow they will continue to grow into each other. This may make for a great canopy for graduation but the future of these trees may not be so great.

As these trees continue to grow into each other they will block sunlight not only from graduates and students but also from itself.

Without this sunlight these trees’ growth will slowly stop and the trees will begin to kill themselves out. Hence, once again new trees will need to be brought in to replace the ones just dying.

Have you ever wondered how time and time again during the late fall season there is never a single leaf on the ground. When I first saw the leaf vacuum zamboni, which if you have not seen on campus is a sight to see, I was amazed.

Our school actually has a machine that gets rid of the leaves. It saves time from raking the leaves, and is a machine which really only needs a driver. Yet, a four-man crew is usually seen running the machine, three with leaf blowers blowing the leaves into the machine. Is it really necessary to have three people just funneling leaves into this massive vehicle? Is it necessary to pay three individuals just to blow leaves into a machine that already does a fantastic job?