To the editors:
Anyone glancing at the lead story in last week’s Voice could be forgiven for thinking that the College is planning to a) increase the size of the student body dramatically and b) build a new residence hall to accommodate that growth. (“Deliberation continues over new dorm,” April 22, 2011) Neither is the case.
This year’s bumper crop of 600+ first-years notwithstanding, Wooster is, and will continue to be, a college of about 2,000 students, of whom 1,850 or so are on campus at any one time (with the rest studying abroad or enrolled in domestic off-campus programs). There is no new residence hall in the works.
The campus master planning process now underway will produce, as the article notes, “a comprehensive assessment of our facilities needs and priorities,” including “a comprehensive plan for student residences.”† Such a plan will evaluate our current stock of student housing from a variety of angles. Do we have the right mix of housing options? Are there facilities in need of renovation or replacement? If so, how might we tackle those needs in a phased way? And so on.
The last master plan was developed in 2000, updated about five years ago, and has guided our campus stewardship efforts for a decade. In other words, this is, by its nature, a long-term planning process.
Sincerely,
John L. Hopkins
Associate Vice President for
College Relations & Marketing