Hanover
Authored by the same professors who wrote a concerned letter to the college president in October, the petition warns that the 750-bed dormitory complex under consideration could intrude on a rare downtown natural area, disrupt delicate physics experiments in neighboring Wilder Hall, and threaten the 163-year-old Shattuck Observatory.
Administrators this week emphasized that they have made no final plans and were merely studying the possible addition of “swing space” for the renovation or demolition of other aging dorms.
“We urge the Dartmouth administration and the (Dartmouth Board of) Trustees to explore alternative residential building sites that will not have such a severe, irreversible impact on an iconic part of the campus, on Dartmouth’s scientific and architectural heritage, and on future teaching and research,” reads the Dec. 11 petition, which was written by physics professor Miles Blencowe.
By mid-afternoon on Monday, 1,368 people had signed the online petition, ranging from current professors, students and staff to alumni and architecture aficionados from across the world.
Some signers pointed out that the Shattuck Observatory, designed and built in 1854 by Ammi Young, who also designed the original Vermont Statehouse, was the last structure of its generation to remain continuously in operation on its original footprint.
Others, such as Jenny Land Mackenzie, a 1996 alumna, poet and teacher at St. Johnsbury Academy, spoke fondly of the school symbols that stand in the park — particularly of Bartlett Tower and a well-loved bronze statue of poet and fleeting Dartmouth student Robert Frost — and worried that development could mar the location’s natural beauty.
“That park made me decide to go to Dartmouth,” she wrote next to her digital signature. “…As a student, the space gave me solace each day. I loved visiting Robert Frost, being on the hill, by the tower, and feeling immediately away from campus when in fact I was really still there.”
In response to earlier concerns from the Department of Physics and Astronomy, administrators floated the idea of relocating the Shattuck Observatory or building around it. But in an email exchange with the Valley News on Monday, Land Mackenzie said such accommodations would not be enough.
“This great potential loss is not just about the observatory,” she said. “It is about that small but vital piece of wild and accessible land on Dartmouth’s campus.”
Blencowe, who helped write an October letter from the Department of Physics and Astronomy to Dartmouth President Phil Hanlon, said he had been struck by the wide range of people supporting the petition.
“It has been heartening to receive so many compelling comments from people in all walks of life about why College Park and Shattuck Observatory matters to them — including from astronomers and historians of science outside the U.S.,” he said in an email on Monday.
Faculty from the Department of Earth Sciences added their voices to the mix earlier this month, expressing concern in a Dec. 4 letter to administrators about potential disruption to atmospheric and seismic observations that have been ongoing, in some cases, since the observatory’s construction.
Numerous professors from other fields of study signed the petition, too, though none appeared to be speaking for their departments as a whole.
Administrators still are studying the feasibility of development in College Park and have reached no conclusions, college spokeswoman Diana Lawrence said on Monday.
“We value and appreciate the feedback we are receiving; it will shape the project if a decision is made to proceed with development,” she said in an email, noting that administrators will meet with physics and astronomy faculty in January.
Lawrence added that the school’s architectural consultants, a Massachusetts-based firm called Sasaki, had recently completed geotechnical reports, surveys and a preliminary site plan, but that that work was only preliminary. She declined to share a copy of the site plan.
Rick Mills, the college’s executive vice president, said the presence of contractors drilling holes in College Park might have intensified concerns about imminent development, but emphasized that college officials would take the community’s concerns into account.
“People have been reacting by saying, ‘Gee, this is moving ahead rapidly,’ ” he said over the phone on Monday. “That’s not the case. We are a long way away … from siting, developing a residence hall.”
Mills said the number of signatures to the petition “adds volume to what we already knew” — that many in the college community want to preserve the historic site.
“We need to be mindful of those concerns as we move ahead in our feasibility analysis,” he said.
Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or at 603-727-3242.