The lawn (which had been a 3-decker house used by the Visual & Performing Arts department before it was demolished in May of 1996) was brand new and a vivid green at the time of the confrontation. Most people not involved with the Senior Administration assumed something useful would be built there, especially since space is always at a premium. However, eight months later, the only progress was that all the grass had died and the lawn had turned into a useless eyesore. The Administration refused to build anything there because of "aesthetic" reasons, probably to do with Traina's view.