Cliff Weber, professor emeritus of classics: I am old enough to remember the time when students were last invited to design part of the campus. The result was the felling of countless trees on the pristine hillside south of Peirce Hall, after a poll of students revealed a majority favoring that hillside as the site of a new athletic building. The result was the unsightly Ernst Center, which I hope has been demolished by now. As in most fields, professional training counts for something in matters involving design. For what my opinion is worth, the master plan should be kept away from amateurs, except as a divertissement, which may well be your paper’s intent.

Audrey Nation ’15: I made a rough design for an entirely new library building (which would take up the same space as the current library) for a drawing class last year. It was made as a replacement for Olin/Chalmers though, and not in response to the master plan. But from what I remember from the master plan, the library seemed questionable to me, so I would still probably prefer this over the new plans. I made it in Google SketchUp first and then built a scale model from those plans.

Director of Chemical Labs and Environmental Health and Safety Specialist Dudley Thomas: I have always (recently) wanted to see the gates restored to what they were originally designed to be. Buried beneath the gravel are three steps that I am sure are beautiful and ‘original.’  We can add handicap-accessible ramps for chairs and bikes outside the gates, but please show me the steps! Also, my opinion is that the “downtown” should have that 1890s look like downtown Mount Vernon has. Rebuild Farr if you must, but not as an East-Coast village, but as a Midwest town. Just my $0.04 worth.

Professor of Dance Balinda Craig-Quijada: I love the idea of an arts quad behind the library! Close proximity for art, theater, dance, film, music creates more opportunities for chance encounters, cross-pollination and collaboration. Moving the current parking behind the library to an underground lot (for the arts quad) would further emphasize the pedestrian nature of Kenyon and mirror the science quad’s open space.

Mark Kohlman, the College’s Chief Business Officer, notes that members of the community were among those involved in the design of the master plan:  Steve Arnett, Director of Campus Construction; Scott Baker, Alumni/Parent Programs, class of ’94; Julie Brodie, Prof. Dance; Suzanne Hopkins, Village Administrator; David Hoyt, Student, class of ’14, chair of B&G committee; Kachen Kimmel, Village Council; Leslie Martin, Student, class of ’14; Steve Martin, LBIS, Staff Council; Wade Powell, Prof. Biology; Deb Reeder, Trustee, Class of ’85; Tacci Smith, Associate Dean of Students; Tom Stamp, College Historian, Class of ’73; Darryl Uy, Director of Admissions – Mark Kohlman, Chief Business Officer.