Construction has become a part of daily life at Dartmouth, but lately, campus-wide improvements have been especially disruptive, jolting some students awake early in the morning and forcing professors to relocate their classes.
Sarah Charles '02 said the fire alarm in her room in French went off one recent morning and she was so accustomed to the construction noises outside that she got out of bed four times and looked out the window before realizing that the noise she was hearing was, in fact, an alarm.
Sara Lichterman '02 said she can see the River construction site clearly outside of her window.
"There's planks and a lot of noise," she said. "You can hear men moving things and machines."
She said the construction starts at 7:30 a.m., and sometimes earlier, and that she has hung a blanket in her window since she has no shade to block possible peepers from seeing inside.
Allison Joseph '00, who lives in the River Apartments said since she arrived on campus, construction outside her first floor window has woken her up no later than 8 a.m. every morning.
She said the noises of construction include trucks beeping, cement mixers and other basic construction noises.
But she said these noises are not new to her at Dartmouth -- last year she had a similar wake-up call from the Berry Library construction site noise that drifted into her Wheeler window.
"I've come to take Dartmouth construction and the noise that comes along with it as a part of life on campus," she said. "They're always fixing something."
Sociology professor Denise Anthony said her class last Thursday was interrupted half way through "with significant noise from the construction upstairs."
She said the repeated pounding noises disrupted class and made it difficult for students to concentrate.
She said she spoke to the administrative assistant on Wednesday morning and requested that the class could be moved to another room where noise would not be a distraction.
Despite the inconvenience to her class, Anthony said the renovation was a positive thing because it was keeping Dartmouth's facilities up to date.
Director of Facilities Planning Gordon DeWitt said he understands the unpleasant aspects of construction -- especially since student schedules often do not correspond to construction schedules.
However, the College is currently in the midst of many construction projects around campus, and needless to say, these projects affect members of the Dartmouth community.
Assistant Director of Facilities Planning Jack Wilson, said the College does everything within its power to complete the jobs in a timely manner while not interfering with classes and sleep.
He said work generally does not begin until 7:30 in the morning, which is late by most construction standards.
He also said that following complaints by five or six faculty members during the first week of classes, most work in Silsby Hall -- at least the tearing down of walls on the third and fourth floors to create new spaces -- has been curtailed during the times when classes usually meet.
"Our main goal is to get the job done," Wilson said.
He said when classes are disrupted by noises like the demolition in the upper floors of Silsby, he can either find an alternate location for the class or modify the work schedule.
"We try to work around [classes]," DeWitt said. "But it isn't always successful. In the case of Silsby, we've been able to make up time by organizing a second shift."
This news will be appreciated by the professors who teach classes on the second floor of Silsby.
Wilson said he has also received complaints from professors who work in Wilder, Steele and Fairchild, where there has been construction for over a year and a half.
"The faculty is very demanding, but very fair," he said. "As long as we can keep communication open with them, either they can judge before it happens, or they respond and we try to react."
DeWitt said it is always difficult to schedule times convenient for everyone when buildings are being renovated or new ones are being constructed, but the jobs have to be completed for the sake of the College and its students.
