Throughout this academic year, the College has been developing the next campus master plan and has held community input sessions to gather feedback. However, not all stakeholders on campus agree on the success of this outreach.

The Campus Plan Steering Committee has extensively collaborated with architectural firm Ayers Saint Gross (ASG), according to Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer Matt Orlando. Orlando noted how the committee has factored campus engagement into its work.

“The committee has been intentional in making this as transparent a process as possible, which carries the risk of raising expectations for how much can be achieved in this plan,” Orlando wrote in an email to the Orient. “The committee felt this was a risk worth taking.”

Representatives from all corners of campus have engaged with the planning process. Executive Director of Dining Ryan Miller noted that Dining Services, for example, has been heavily involved in the development of the campus master plan, and that Dining has been considering renovations and new construction for a while.

Moulton Dining is one of the key priorities for the next campus master plan. Moulton, which was most recently renovated in 1955, has faced issues with overcrowding since its renovation, according to Miller. Today, Moulton serves 800 to 900 meals in one meal period, in addition to catering for some campus events on the upper floors of Moulton Union.

Miller is grateful for the support Dining has received throughout the planning process and in evaluating the needs of Dining Services on campus.

“I am really excited to be able to design a facility that works for [Dining staff] and for our campus community for many years to come,” Miller wrote.

The campus input process has not been as smooth for all students, however. Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) Facilities and Sustainability Chair Angelica Gordon ’27, who sits on the campus planning committee as its student representative, described the challenges the committee has faced in gathering feedback from a representative portion of the student body.

“We’re trying our best to make sure that we reach out to every corner on campus, but we also acknowledge that some of those corners might be missing,” Gordon said.

According to data from the Bowdoin Orient Student Survey, 64 percent of respondents were not aware of the ongoing campus planning process. Only eight percent of respondents who were aware of the plan reported attending a listening session for student feedback.

BSG Vice President Elliott Ewell ’27 expressed frustration with the lack of communication with students about these campus planning sessions.

“There are no posters. There are no emails about when there’s availability for wider student feedback,” Ewell said. “They could probably work on that or be aware if they’re not going to do it, to make sure other people are going to do it—like they could have told [BSG] that we were in charge of publicizing it.”

Orlando explained that the committee chose not to advertise student sessions, so it could informally catch students as they passed through frequently used student spaces like Smith Union.

“For the student outreach that we did in the Union and in Thorne [Hall] in October, we didn’t post those as events but rather focused on asking students to provide feedback while we were in the spaces,” Orlando wrote.

Director of Student Activities Nate Hintze agreed that Smith Union, another campus master plan priority, would benefit from a renovation.

“It would be great to get an update to the Union,” Hintze wrote. “My main concern is making sure whatever direction the college chooses, we maintain a large programming space that isn’t owned by Athletics, so that we can continue to accommodate the [Spring] Gala, concerts, various fairs, receptions, etc.”

Hawthorne-Longfellow Library (H-L) and Hubbard Hall, grouped together in the plan, are another main focus, with the prospect of expanded library space in one of the two buildings or elsewhere on campus. Director of the Bowdoin College Library Peter Bae detailed that ASG asked library leadership and other faculty and staff housed in the two buildings for feedback following the sessions that took place last week.

“We reviewed mock plans and provided detailed feedback on each proposal, with discussions centered on H-L and Hubbard,” Bae wrote in an email to the Orient. “At this time, there are no new updates or plans regarding Hatch [Science Library]. I expect additional updates will come to us as the project continues to move forward.”

With the prospect of new space comes the challenge of maintaining library operations, including storing one million books, throughout a potentially lengthy renovation process.

“We may require a temporary swing space to house the books, as well as additional areas to support our services and provide spaces for students to study and carry out their research,” Bae wrote. “We are fortunate to have a dedicated team of staff who are committed to overcoming these challenges and making it all possible.”

The next step for the Committee, according to Orlando, is discussing the priorities and phases of the draft scenarios in hopes of presenting a final plan to College leadership at the end of the summer.