Petition asks Trustees to reconsider library plans
Ten days after faculty opposition to the plans for the Berry Library proposal surfaced, students are starting to show an increased awareness of the issue, and more than 1,000 students have signed a petition asking the Board of Trustees to stop and reconsider the 125,000 square-foot addition.
The petition, initiated by S. Chancellor Hill '01, basically restates the complaints of the faculty petition being circulated by Art History Professor Joy Kenseth. The faculty petition demands that the Board of Trustees delay action on the present plans of the building until the exterior of the library is rethought.
Hill, who estimates that about 1,100 students have signed the petition, is hoping to gather as many names as he can before Saturday's Trustee meeting. The petition includes Dartmouth students as well as Hanover residents and non-faculty employees.
It is unlikely the Trustees will modify the design.
In initiating this petition, Hill hopes to "give a voice" to students, who he feels in large part have been ignored.
"We need all the support we can get to stop this building," Hill said.
The main complaints about the planned Berry Library are its huge size and "barrier-like" quality, as well as the building's similarity to New England mills and factories-- aspects which some feel are not suitable for a library.
