I am pleased to announce that our annual Campus Beautification Day will be held on Wednesday, April 18. Details about specific activities will be sent in the next few days. Several areas of the campus have been selected for special attention, including the Tenley Campus and the Brandywine Building, along with other sites that need planting, mulching, and cleaning. A major planting project is planned for the Nebraska Avenue Parking Lot to complete work begun last fall.

In light of the activities of the Army Corps of Engineers on campus this year, there are naturally questions you may have about this year's beautification initiative. The casual and short-term soil contact associated with Beautification Day activities does not pose a health risk. Nevertheless, to assure maximum safety, any beautification work that involves digging will be restricted to those areas where the soil has been tested and found to have normal readings, and to areas clearly outside the boundary of property used by the Army during World War I. In campus areas not yet tested, work will be limited to cleaning up and spreading mulch. No work is planned for areas that registered higher-than-normal arsenic test readings.

The collective work of the AU community each year on Beautification Day makes a tremendous difference to the general campus appearance. I encourage you to participate and to urge your peers to join in. Campus Beautification Day has become an AU tradition that refreshes the campus, welcomes spring, and adds to our sense of community. If you have questions, please contact Willy Suter (x-2301). I look forward to seeing you on the 18th.