News and Events
Building Our Future
by Baird Tipson
If you haven't visited Chestertown for a while, you may think Washington College has gone out of its senses. How could we possibly be doing so much building in such a dreary economic environment? When everyone else is cutting back, how can we have undertaken three major building projects simultaneously?
Well, as you can imagine, major building projects don't spring up overnight. It was several years ago that the Board of Visitors and Governors endorsed a strategic plan that included a complete renovation of the Gibson Center for the Arts, significant repairs to Hodson Hall, and a long-term plan to house 90% of our students on campus. For the last two years our drama and music departments have occupied temporary quarters while the Gibson renovation takes place. We've raised almost $9 million for Gibson, received a $3 million grant from the State of Maryland, used accumulated capital funds, and borrowed the rest of the $24 million project cost at a very favorable rate (just in time, it turned out). Gibson will also include the Kohl Art Gallery, a venue that can accommodate the sorts of exhibits the College has never before had the facilities to house. The Underwood Lobby, which will service the Decker Theatre, the Tawes Experimental Theatre, and a yet-unnamed Music Recital Hall, will light up Martha Washington Square as never before.
Planning for Chester and Sassafras, our new residence halls, began almost three years ago. The original design called for three contiguous 100-bed halls, heated and cooled geothermally. We ended up building just two, which came on line in August; when we are able to add the third hall, all the mechanical equipment will already be in place. Because residence halls generate income from room charges, we borrowed money to build them, too—money we will repay as we collect rent from the students living there.
The Hodson Hall project caught us a little by surprise. We had budgeted about $7 million in our strategic plan to do some long-needed kitchen renovations, but once we examined the mechanical systems—heating, ventilating, air-conditioning, plumbing and electrical—we found they were at the end of their useful life. The new Hodson Hall, scheduled to open in early fall, will more than double the original seating capacity but also house, on the first floor, something we have long lacked: a real student center.
Even before the economic meltdown, we knew we were assuming some risks in taking on the additional debt needed to complete these projects. We knew that repaying the debt—even though we borrowed at very favorable interest rates—would strain the budget. But we also knew that to attract the kind of students who could take best advantage of the outstanding academic programs we offer, we had to have first-rate facilities. Every student will spend many hours a week in the dining hall; every student deserves attractive living space; and we want to expose every student to the magic of the arts.
It's taken some belt-tightening, but we've absorbed the debt into our budget. Next fall, the center of campus will be transformed when Gibson and Hodson open their doors. It will be well worth the wait—and the debt.
President Baird Tipson eagerly anticipates Reunion, when campus visitors will be able to see the new facilities for themselves. To view live webcam of the Gibson project, visit http://cpu.washcoll.edu/