Though the site was not taken completely off the list of possibilities as the site of a new Miami University Richard T. Farmer School of Business building, it was not included in the set of sites that will undergo detailed study. Those sites are Kreger Hall, Reid Hall and Western College playing fields.

The detailed study is to be finished the first week in November, officials said at a campus forum Thursday evening.

"There is no clear option. We recognize that's just a fact," said Scott Johnston, who chairs the Committee of Campus Planning.

Johnston and Jim Haley, associate vice president for physical facilities, have been presented with petitions bearing 4,684 signatures of students, faculty, alumni and residents who want to preserve Bishop Woods, less than 3 acres of trees, flowers and brush on the campus.

"I think the meeting went really well," said Sara Depew, a senior zoology major from Oxford. "I think everyone's comments were researched well. They actually had reasons why it should be kept and not just personal reasons."

The presentation used at both the open discussion meetings and other construction updates can be found at www.pfd.muohio.edu.

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E-mail kmuthig@enquirer.com