Peter Greer: Former English instructor Charlie Terry always talks about the social contract around the Harkness table. By this, he means that there is implicit in the whole business the need for students to be respectful of other students, of their ideas and their presence. It seems to me that in the best of all worlds this social contract would extend to all aspects of student and community life. A great deal of this community's energy stems from students interacting with other students under the alert, guiding hand of the faculty. What is unusual in the classroom at Exeter-student-centered pedagogy-makes all kinds of sense outside the classroom, whether on the playing fields or in the dorms. This broad definition of the Harkness philosophy shapes the kind of lives many of us lead at Exeter.

Kathy Brownback: I would agree. In the classroom at Exeter, there are no passive observers. We connect people around the Harkness table. There was a sense among the people the Thompson Planning Committee met with that this doesn't happen as much in the rest of our community life. I think we will see a great increase in the sense of community at Exeter through the new campus community center proposed for Thompson and the dorm renovations. The campus community center will be an exciting addition to campus that will be a magnet for people.

Maribel Hernandez '00: I see the Harkness philosophy as being a part of students and faculty, though it's not something you really think about. As far as the campus center proposal is concerned, we need a place to channel our energy and be with our friends. This is what keeps us sane. Our location in a small town means if the school doesn't provide a gathering place, no one else will. Exeter's doing great academically, but we need to do more to provide outlets for students, to let us just be teenagers, because that's who we are. We don't want just to be smart -we want to have fun, too. Having a student center in a central place that has a lot to offer will make a big difference. It will be a place where you can bump into other students and faculty, a center of life on campus.

Bulletin: Can you describe how your committees worked and how you arrived at your recommendations for renovations?

Peter Greer: The Phillips Church committee has been meeting for two years now. We were given the task of looking at the church program and the need for renovation. This began as a basic repair project. The roof needed repairing, and there were major problems with the structural integrity of the window facing Tan Lane. As a committee, we quickly decided we wanted to write a statement for the entire ministry program at Exeter, not just for the church itself. We wanted to look at the ministry program in the broadest way before we looked at the building. Our committee talked with each constituency group of faith-identified people at Exeter and asked, what needs do you have? We talked with Hindus, Buddhists, Quakers, and Moslems. We also met with groups of non-faith-identified students and faculty who use the church, such as the Music Department. We wanted to reach a wide range of people. In our design recommendations, we tried to include spaces to accommodate groups of various sizes. The basement will be designed to be used in different ways, with a kitchen and eating area and rooms for meetings and worship. In the Wicks Room, we worked hard to create a space that would accommodate many religious groups. We wanted a space that is congenial to different groups without making anyone feel excluded. In the renovation plans, we have recognized the unique multifaith needs of this ministry. We've tried to make the church a welcoming place for heterogeneous and homogeneous groups, and a place that encourages interfaith dialogue.

Trevor Crowell '00: The Phillips Church proctors met with the committee planning the renovation. We were given the opportunity to comment on the program statement and to look at the actual design plans. A lot of people are connected to the church, and there's a lot of diversity in church activities, but the committee kept in mind the need to make the church welcoming to more people on campus. A simple example is the new stained glass window to be installed over the Tan Lane entrance. The committee tried to choose a design that best reflects the use of the church and the many denominations that meet there. Even in the design of the window, they were careful not to exclude anyone.

Robert Thompson: In true Exeter fashion, there was a common vision around the table about the ministry program and Phillips Church that was Harkness at work in the best way. We had a very good discussion about the difference between the religious and the spiritual. We came back affirming the notion of the religious in the broadest sense. Since I became the school minister, various perspectives on God have come to be celebrated more openly and more freely at Phillips Church. Students approached me about forming the Hindu Society and a Moslem group, and having a Catholic Mass on campus. I felt in my heart that this was right. Our Christian heritage remains important. It is equally important that with the renovations Phillips Church will be more amenable to easy celebration of other aspects of God.

Maribel Hernandez '00: The Thompson Planning Committee met once or twice a week last fall. We also held open meetings for students, faculty and staff. I felt my job as a committee member was to absorb what other people were saying. We wanted to get opinions from everyone on campus on how Thompson can best be used once the science department has moved. From early on, there was pretty clear agreement that the building should be used for a campus center, but it was surprising to me to see how the needs and wants varied from group to group on campus. The one thing everyone agreed on was that we need a bigger post office. I wasn't sure my opinions were really going to be taken into account, but in the meetings we quickly found that we were all seen as equals, and everyone's suggestions were considered. We even attended trustee meetings. Students were included in every part of the process, and so were staff.

Russell Weatherspoon: The Cilley Hall Committee has also been meeting for almost two years. The trustees have set a policy of linking any major construction on campus to program needs. This pushed us to look at the dorms as a whole in a philosophic way and to think of Cilley as a paradigm for other dorms. One goal is to get the ratio of faculty to students in the dorms closer to the ratio that exists in the classroom. We currently have 58 students living in Cilley, but after the renovation, that number will be reduced to 49, so we will have a ratio of one faculty member for every 12 students. The commitment of the Academy to this project provided the opportunity to do several things quite differently. There were previously no laundry facilities in the dorm, but we will now have laundry rooms in the basement and on the third and fourth floors. We will have a new dining area and an improved grill along with a game room. We've planned for two additional common rooms on the upper floors, which will create new spaces for students and faculty to meet and provide a very different look for those hallways. We trust that the new configurations will draw students down the hallways to the common spaces. We're hoping to create a community of greater intimacy in the dorms, although at the end of the day, this becomes a function of the people living here-faculty and students, and the degree to which they make time for a common life. These things are not dependent on the building configuration, but we think the new configuration of the dorm will only cause casual interactions between students to be more fruitful and help us create esprit de corps.

Kathy Brownback: In recent years, we have put a lot more emphasis on the dorms as the home base for students. We have worked to decrease the advisor/student ratio, so faculty advisors can spend more time with their advisees. We have increased funds for dorm gatherings and social activities based in the dorms. The renovations in Cilley, for instance, will reduce the number of advisees assigned to each faculty member. We have also worked to address the needs of day students, who are affiliated with dorms and participate in many of the dorm activities.

Russell Weatherspoon: One of the positive upshots of the focus on residential life is increased communication with parents. Parents are more involved in what's going on in their kids' lives at Exeter now. Faculty advisors can rely on having more contact with parents, by phone and email. As a faculty, we're working on increasing this contact so we can do better advising of students.

Bulletin: How will the planned dorm renovations help to foster more interaction between students and faculty and encourage community?

Aizaz Ali '00: Even though new students tend to bond quickly at the beginning of the year (at least from what I have seen), having a common room on the floor where new students live would enhance the social atmosphere on that floor. It would give guys a place to come together and talk as a group, rather than being confined to just a few kids being together in one room. The dorm will also get some much-needed recreational facilities in the basement. Seeing that there is currently no ping-pong table or pool table, I think the students will be more than happy to have something to do in the dorm other than play computer games over the network.

Russell Weatherspoon: The quality of residential life has been on our minds for several years at Exeter. We know that Exeter is regarded as one of the best secondary schools in the nation in terms of academics. We'd like to make sure we bring that same excellence to the rest of what we're doing. Currently there is no question about our academics, but doubt lives in people's minds about whether students are cared for and known here. We don't want to take away the important freedom we give students, but we want them to have the experience of knowing they are known and heard. I think the changes we are making in Cilley and that we will make in other dorms in the future will help achieve this goal. You're talking with someone who has lived in Cilley for 12 years. I was waiting for this renovation a decade ago, but other important projects on campus came first. If this project had happened five to 10 years ago, it would frankly not have been done as radically or as well. Pleasant alterations would have been made, but they would not have been guided by philosophical considerations that now are going to do more than just make the building more attractive. It appears it was worth the wait.

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