BY RAMYA GOPAL

In print | April 5, 2007

Though it may not be o.j. and waffles in bed, students in Alice Paul and Mertz are enjoying several perks, including breakfast and air conditioners, as part of an effort by the college and contractors to compensate for the disruption caused by the ongoing construction of David Kemp Hall.

The brainchild of Mertz and Alice Paul RAs, the idea to provide breakfast for residents affected by the construction was successfully pitched to President Al Bloom at the annual RA dinner. The idea was proposed by Mertz RA Erick Zwick ’07, who shared a table with Bloom that night. According to Zwick, the president and the RAs had been brainstorming ideas to reduce the inconvenience of living next to a construction site. “We suggested having later classes or providing breakfast. [Bloom] was surprisingly receptive to that idea,” Zwick said.

The RA dinner was held on a Wednesday and the food was provided the following Monday. For the first three days, Mike Boyd, the project manager, brought doughnuts and coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts, but shortly thereafter Dining Services stepped in to provide the breakfast service. Zwick expressed disappointment that Sharples food has replaced Dunkin’ Donuts, although he was pleased overall with the service. “is paying attention to us. It’s the best they can do,” Zwick said.

Coordinator of Residential Life Liz Derickson ’01 has spearheaded the initiative, which has adequate funds to supply breakfast for half the students in each dorm — Mertz houses around 150 students and Alice Paul contains around 75. Breakfast is provided every morning from 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the lobbies of Mertz and Alice Paul, which are the only two dorms affected by the construction. Dining Services provides coffee, bagels and fruit as well as one staff person for set-up and cleanup. The breakfast, which is estimated to cost under $3,000, will only be provided until the end of this semester, according to Associate Vice President of Facilities and Services Stu Hain, who helped arrange the logistics.

Breakfast is not the only amenity that students will enjoy during the construction of David Kemp Hall. In an effort keep dust and noise out of dorm rooms, the college plans to supply and install window-mount air conditioners in all Mertz rooms at an expected cost of $10,000.

Despite the cost of providing food and air-conditioning units, the purchase of these items has not inflated the original construction estimate.

“It is part of the construction cost. We built a contingency in the construction budget for unforeseen costs,” Hain said of the project’s funding, which is comprised of substantial alumni contributions.

Though typically students are made aware of construction plans before choosing into dorms that could be subject to inconveniences, students had already chosen into their housing for the 2006-2007 school year when the official plans for Kemp were announced this spring.

“is an acknowledgement that [students] would be inconvenienced by the construction, especially for upperclassmen who had chosen into the dorms without any knowledge of it. [The breakfast arrangement] is a nice thing to do,” Derickson said.

Chelsea Davis ‘10, a resident of Alice Paul, said she doesn’t feel inconvenienced by the noise generated by the nearby construction site.

“It’s an eyesore,” she said, “but it’s not a complaint. The contractors send out e-mails about when they will do construction. The breakfast is an added benefit.”

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