at the beginning of her term as principal, hitchcock pushed for a major and controversial new infrastructure project, the queen's centre. it was to be the largest project undertaken by a canadian university to that time, encompassing expanded and upgraded sports facilities, a student life centre and a new academic building. the project had a budget of $230 million, and was scheduled to take nearly a decade to complete. groundbreaking took place two and a half years later, in february, 2007. within fourteen months, the massive project would be 20% over budget.