I am a senior at Loyola College in Maryland, and I recently became aware of the controversy surrounding the stained glass windows at your college's Rollins Chapel, through my boyfriend who is a member of Dartmouth's senior class. Though I am not a Dartmouth student, I have spent a great deal of time in Hanover over the past three and a half years, and am familiar with the school and the community.
I am writing to you because I feel I might be able to shed some light on the window controversy. I am currently writing my senior thesis on the stained glass windows in my own college's chapel, focusing specifically on the difference between Catholic and Protestant stained glass at the turn of the twentieth century.
Louis Comfort Tiffany very rarely produced stained glass windows for chapels. In fact, I believe your college may be one of the only schools -- if not the only one -- in the United States whose chapel has windows by Tiffany. The reason for this was because Tiffany's windows were often considered "too secular" for religious structures. His windows frequently contained landscapes, which were often more prominent than any figures that appeared in his windows. Since no one has seen the designs of most of your windows, I suggest to you that they may be far more secular than you think.
The windows in your chapel are probably not like "traditional" stained glass. Because Protestant religions often discourage iconography, stained glass windows in Protestant churches from the turn of the century are often highly geometric in nature: They emphasize simple geometric shapes and patterns. These windows are usually not large, nor do they depict religious scenes. I am not saying that your windows are not religious, it is obvious that some of them are, judging from the "Jesus" window. My point is that they may not be as religiously blatant as you are assuming them to be.
I would also like to discourage the removal of the windows. I understand the sensitivity of the issue -- that many religious denominations use the chapel and that non- Christian religions may feel uncomfortable with the windows. But stained glass is not like other artwork. It cannot be hung on a museum wall like a painting. The windows must have a light source behind them. Stained glass must also be considered, in a sense, as an architectural element. They are designed for a specific building, to be a part of that building. If you remove the windows, you remove them from the greater whole to which they belong. They cannot be as fully appreciated or understood once they are removed from their original setting. Likewise, I would also like to point out that the windows will not be visible from the outside. They are designed to be illuminated from the outside in, and not vice versa.
I know that I am not a Dartmouth student, and I have no right to urge a decision one way or another for a community to which I do not belong. But before you make claims urging against ignorance, I ask you to take the time to actually familiarize yourself with the historical facts of the issue at hand. If you are concerned about maintaining the secular nature of your college, you may find many of these windows fit your needs better than you think. Take the time to be grateful for what you have. Instead of judging these windows as religiously offensive, be glad that you attend a school that can offer you artistic masterpieces at your very fingertips. Many do not.
