Bulletin: Phillips Church meets the needs of many religious groups on campus and serves as a performance space for music concerts. How will the proposed renovations improve this facility's service to the community?

Peter Greer: Various details of the proposed changes will make a difference, we hope. The nave will have cathedral-style chairs instead of pews, which will allow the chairs to be moved for smaller worship groups. Improvements to the acoustics will make the church a better space for concerts. We have also included a library in the renovation plans, a place where people can learn from books or conversation. We saw knowledge as an important part of faith.

Bulletin: The completion of the Phelps Science Center in the fall offers the Academy a unique opportunity to renovate the Thompson Science Building for other uses. What has the Thompson Planning Committee identified as key issues and opportunities for the use of this building in the future?

Kathy Brownback: As a committee, we started with what would be the best overall use of the Thompson Building. Through an extended process of conversation that involved many people on campus, we agreed on the idea of a campus community center for faculty, staff and students that will be central to campus life. The center will house the post office, the grill, the student activities office, offices for clubs and other student services. Currently these services are scattered across campus. We don't have a central meeting place suited to informal gatherings and various extracurricular activities. We see this as a crossroads that will connect everyone on campus. In our initial conversation, we focused on what does the campus really need? We realized that creating the opportunity for better connections between faculty and students and among students was very important. This new facility will help realize this goal. It's fundamental to campus life.

Maribel Hernandez '00: We say we want to stand for more than academics and sports at Exeter, but if we don't provide the facilities for other kinds of interaction, it won't happen. Right now there's no place for students to just spend time together. It's harder to see your friends because of this. A centralized place will encourage conversation.

Kathy Brownback: It was not hard to reach agreement on what the building should be used for, but coming up with a proposal for exactly what the campus center should contain took longer. Many of these details are still being worked out. It was clear that having a central location for student activities and meeting space for clubs could make a real difference to how these groups operate. So part of the proposal is to have offices for the PEAN, the Exonian, and the radio station all housed in the campus center. We will also have a space for day students, which is badly needed. The day student center will give day students a place to go between classes or at the end of the day if they are staying for evening activities.

Bulletin: Principal Tyler Tingley has spoken of the need to have students not only learn Harkness but to "live" Harkness. How do you think these facilities initiatives will further this goal?

Kathy Brownback: In the dorms, you don't have any choice but to live Harkness. Our role is to see it as an enriching experience in the dorm as it is in the classroom. The entire lives of faculty and students are involved in the community of campus life. For me, living Harkness means being an active participant in the community in all ways, even down to realizing you need to take time for yourself sometimes. It means that the consequences of your actions are always with you and that you need to understand what this means, that you're part of a community.

Robert Thompson: People at Exeter who are seekers are seeking community. I think of what Howard Thurman said: "Where God moves, there's an end to isolation." When people come to Phillips Church once this renovation is completed, they will find ways to end isolation, from themselves and from each other. They will find community affirmed in every way. I believe the other projects will help to make this happen in other places as well.

Russell Weatherspoon: One of the phrases that resonated with many of us involved in planning the renovations is the notion that no one is left out. Every voice can be heard. As the impetus for choices we are making campuswide, this is very hopeful. Nothing distinguishes Exeter more than our teaching philosophy. Behind this philosophy is the effort to teach students that what they think and what they say is important. The value of this approach rises as they talk to each other and teach each other. We need to take every opportunity we can to reinforce this idea, to help students remember they are collaborators with everyone else in their education.

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