According to Director of Residential Life Charri Boykin-East, the work this summer involved "all kinds of little construction jobs" around campus. Some of those jobs, according to Dean of Students Ben Lieber, included beginning the renovations of North and South dormitories and completing the conversion of Williston Hall into a dorm.
Perhaps the most disruptive projects were the infrastructure upgrades, which involved temporarily destorying paths and roads on campus so that electrical, telephone, fiber optic, water, steam and fire protection systems could be upgraded or completely replaced, according to Amherst Magazine.
Indeed, Boykin-East emphasized how necessary the infrastructure upgrades are to the bigger picture. "Last summer and again this summer, there was a lot of infrastructure construction going on around campus," she said. "A lot of that needed to be done ... It has been a little chaotic at times, but I think it has been ... [very manageable and very necessary] for the project to go on."
"The infrastructure upgrades made getting around campus very difficult," said Rosalyn Foster '05, who was on campus this summer. "The walkway from the Valentine quad to the freshman quad was taped up, so getting to Frost was a bit difficult."
"[The RMP is] a series of ambitious projects that will be completed in September of 2007" and that will cost an anticipated $115 million, according to Director of Facilities Planning and Management Jim Brassord.
The RMP projects include converting Williston Hall to a dormitory, renovating North and South Colleges, constructing two new dorms at the southeast corner of campus, renovating Morris Pratt and Morrow Dormitories, constructing a new geology and natural history museum building, converting the Pratt Museum of Natural History, the current geology building, to a dorm and installing temporary dorms to create additional bed space. According to Boykin-East, the renovated and new dorms will have more social space and will also eliminate the need for freshman triples.
Lieber said that the series of projects also offers the "opportunity to consolidate the freshman housing on the Freshman Quad."
According to Brassord, the RMP improvements are necessary in order for the College's residential facilities to be "of a quality consistent with the College's academic facilities."
"Throughout the '90s, our Capital Construction Campaign focused on the academic facilities on campus ... It was time to turn our focus to residential facilities that in many cases were substandard relative to peer institutions," Brassord said.
This change in focus gave birth to the Residential Master Plan Committee, which Brassord co-chaired with Lieber. The committee spent 18 months evaluating residential facilities and developing a plan to enhance the dorms.
The plan was designed to minimize disruption to campus, according to Brassord. "We've been very careful to schedule the construction such that it will not overwhelm the campus or adversely impact the experience of our students," he said. "The number of major projects undertaken at any given time is limited; consequently, we'll be able to manage the level of disruption caused to the campus."
Boykin-East emphasized that construction crews try to schedule the work to make it less of a nuisance. "They're not on a nine-to-five schedule; people have been very accommodating," Boykin-East said, citing her experience with one crew member who scheduled his work for hours when Boykin-East would not be disturbed.
Not everyone has had similar experiences. Chanin Changtor '06 lived in Seelye this summer and described one week when construction was particularly disruptive. "Starting at about 7 a.m. there would be constant drilling outside that would go on until almost 12 p.m., making it impossible for me to stay in bed," Changtor said.
Erin Kirkham '04 also found getting around campus a little more difficult. "The construction has ... made getting from point A to point B take that much longer," Kirkham said. "I worked in Merrill all summer and one day we walked out of the front door and realized there were open trenches dug to our left and to our right."
But Kirkham said that she understood the necessity of the inconveniences. "The construction was noisy and dirty and obnoxious, but we can't really fault the school for improving, and it's often quite miraculous how they're able to clean it up so well," she said.
Boykin-East called on members of the College community to have patience. "Students need to keep in mind that, despite the discomfort it may cause, what we're going through now will bring many benefits to future students," she said. "I believe all the buildings we have plans for will be just wonderful ... I think the students will be pleased."