Though the construction projects on campus remain apparent to Washington University’s students, the administration is saying that they will not affect today’s vice presidential debate in the Athletic Complex.

According to Rob Wild, assistant to the chancellor and the chair of the vice presidential debate steering committee, the projects on campus—the construction of a new Wohl Center and Umrath dorm, as well as work on a new engineering complex around Whitaker Hall—are situated safely.

Wild said he does not expect either of the projects to interfere with campus aesthetics or the operations of the debate.

“Neither of those is in a place in which they’re going to have an impact on the ability to host the vice presidential debate,” Wild said. “Not that they’re not having an impact on people at all, but [there will be] no impact on the vice presidential debate.”

The South 40 construction is located in a self-contained area on the southwestern side of campus and the engineering complex construction on the far eastern side. With the Athletic Complex located on the far western side of main campus, Wild said that construction would not cause direct problems.

Moreover, Wild noted that any difficulties on the South 40 will be insignificant. The University has made sure that debate activities do not stretch beyond main campus.

“We worked really heard to make sure that the debate does not overlap into the residential areas so that the South 40 would not be an issue,” Wild said. “And the other construction zone is far away from where we’d be parking vehicles.”

Parking during the debate, however, will be a complex issue, according to Nicholas Stoff, director of parking and transportation services. Though there will be plenty of parking restrictions during debate week, he said that it is unlikely that construction vehicles and activity will create additional hindrances to parking on campus.

Due to the construction, Stoff estimates that the University will lose at least 300 spaces in Parking Lot 4, which surrounds Whitaker Hall. But Stoff is confident that the loss of spaces will not aggravate parking losses for today’s debate, largely because the lot is restricted to ticketed guests.

“At this time, aside from losing some parking spaces in that area, we don’t anticipate that [the construction] should really be an issue,” Stoff said.

Commuters should visit http://parking.wustl.edu/vp_debate.htm for a detailed overview of parking and traffic restrictions.