Covenant College & Asbestos

Can we say "liability"?

I guess that's one way of shutting down Ghetto...

Behind Jackson? You mean like, out in the woods, nowhere near any place to which the school has ever suggested expanding? Down the hill, in the woods? Will there be escalators?

My unintentional repetition of the phrase "in the woods" makes me sound more neurotic than I had hoped. Perhaps I'm just afraid of bears.

So much for spending all that money to bring in consultants from Atlanta to create a Master Plan. I seem to remember being told that they couldn't build behind Jackson because there wasn't enough land or it wasn't suitable for construction without having to haul in dirt to shore it up or something like that.

I wonder if they're going to bother to sit down and think through the renovation of Carter or if they're going to just follow Covenant's tradition of jumping in first and looking later. Nevermind thinking about preserving the historic integrity of Carter.

Let's see, a hastily built Jackson Hall, the Art Barn, and now a rushed dorm.

Is Covenant creating a slum down the hill?

I wondered where this cough came from.

Figures. Continuing the age old tradition of spending money before we have it. Must be modeling themselves after the government.

I'm really curious as to where they're actually going to put this thing. As in, the hill really drops there pretty quickly, and I don't think they're planning on building a dorm on stilts. The only place I can think of would be between the parking lot and the water tower where that left-over ropes-course type stuff is slowly rotting, but you'd have to either dig the hill out or build the hill up, one or the other.

Right now, I'll just smile at the thought of all those previously smug Carterites having to walk farther than anyone to go to dinner.

geez, laying on the cynicism a bit thick, arent we? sadly, it's a distinguising charactaristic of the mighty scots.

Bob: That and escalators.

Ryan: But if they're shutting down ALL of Carter, that means they're locking the Great Hall, too. So they'll have to build a new dining hall. Maybe it'll have a nice bluff view...

according to the Covenant legend I heard my freshman year Mark David Chapman lived in room 17 on Catacombs.

I'm trying to figure out what's more of the shocking suprise, the asbestos or the tuition increase.

The price incease is a pretty big deal. I think by going over the $10K a semester mark, Covenant might have priced itself out of the range of middle-class families. They're the ones that squeezed out. The wealthier families can afford to pay the tuition flat out and the poorer families get more financial aid. I know that Covenant also gives merit-based financial aid, but that still leaves out the average student. I'm talking about the kid who comes from a middle-class family that probably has more than one kid and is already struggling to pay for Covenant, who isn't a great academic or super leader on campus, but really loves being at Covenant. Unfortunately, those are the students that won't be able to keep going to Covenant.

I think about how much debt I graduated with and I shudder to think about my sister. I hope that she'll get to go back next year.

Mmmm. Asbestos. That would explain a lot. :)

Sadly, tuition increases are everywhere...even at Big State University. They hurt the same group of people everywhere--the middle-classers. Out of pocket (which was hastily covered by a loan check), I paid about the same to go to Covenant as I do to go to LSU, because the financial aid offices works that hard for its students. The middle-class student debt is a national problem; it's scary.

I, for one, love Covenant. Does it throw money into stuff with wild abandon at time? Oh yeah (I mean MAG.....wow that wasn't good), but I love it. I will send my kids there if they'll go simply b/c I had 4 of the best years of my life there.

Just a bit of Scot love for the comments.

I think Dr. Davis either roomed w/ or was on the same hall as chapman, I remember him talking about it in class one day...so I want to say it was 1st beltz. About putting a building up back there, they'd be cool. If Europe can put castles on the side of clifts and someone (walter netsch?) could get the chapel to stand, why not?

I second the comment by Jeannette--tuition is increasing everywhere. The only schools that can control it are ones with huge endowments ... and they usually don't hold it down because of the human tendency to associate value with price (they just discount it heavily with aid for the students they want).

Covenant has already cut its budget by about 10% over the past two years; there's not really much left to trim. Two years ago the college didn't increase tuition at all (nationally, private colleges increased tuition by 6% and public universities increased it by 14%). Last year the increase in tuition at Covenant was 5.6% (below the national private college average of 6% and below the national public university average of 10.5%). Don't know yet where this year's increase will put the college, but it will almost certainly be below the national average increase for the three-year period. Final data point--average private college tuition in TN in 04-05: just over $18,000 (don't know GA's).

On buildings-- there has been an awful lot of thought and homework put into the college's nascent master plan. Committees have been meeting since last summer, and the college has been working with a Knoxville-based development firm since September. (If you're interested in the firm, they're Lawler-Wood, and they're responsible for much of Knoxville's skyline and for much of UTK's campus. They're good at building on hills.)

Preserving Carter Hall--maintaining/restoring as much historic detail as possible while bringing it up to fire code and making it a functional building--is a priority for the college (as it should be, simply as a matter of good stewardship). "Shutting it down" isn't going to mean closing the first floor. Probably 3rd-5th and then 2nd in successive phases. Still, a new dorm has to be built to facilitate this process (and probably should be built anyway, given the college's continuing growth).

The site for the residence hall was chosen based on a reassessment of the buildable sites on the college's property. There is an increasing sense that the college can maintain a tighter geographic core than was previously envisioned. It will certainly mean a little more hill-walking, but that might not be all bad (at least, for some of us). The fellows from Knoxville are encouraging the college to think about doing more vertical and low-impact structures--i.e., buildings that are taller but built more into hillsides. They're also pushing the college to take better advantage of views. So, a cozier, hillier campus with better views ... not all bad, even if it is different than what was envisioned a few years back.

There should be more official word on these projects coming out soon. Most of the above is based on what I know of the tuition/budget balancing act and my involvement in early phases of the campus planning process.

Derek thanks for the lowdown. As to it being a "hilly" campus, if folks want to know what an obnoxious hill walk is like they should visit UC Berkeley. The campus just runs straight up the side of a hill overlooking the bay. If you have an efficiency apartment down in the city, you've got a dang long walk up the hill (we're talking half mile) to get to some of your classes.

Derek, that actually sounds very cool. I look forward to seeing the result, particularly if there's a view.

But I still want escalators. As should everyone. Escalators are awesome.

I think it is a shame some folks do not like to peel back the onion skin, get past the stink, and get to the sweet core. Thank God there are guys like Derek shouting the "voice of reason" from the mountain top. Derek represents the quiter majority of the leadership of Covenant.

My dad who sails said " If you are afaid of the fog, then you will never get to the port".

You are the man D

You boys stop being so nice to me--you're making me blush.

Josiah, I like the fact that you bring up Berkeley. It's a great example of how you can put together a pretty good school even with a hilly campus.

Mesh, I don't know about escalators (which are indeed terribly cool), but there will certainly have to be elevators (for disabled access).

JB, what are you doing reading blogs in the middle of the business day? Aren't you supposed to be helping raise money for that dorm?

Derek, I don't know who you are, but you're the first official person I've heard from on this issue who actually makes me feel better informed. I'm still a little irritated, to say the least, that Student Apartments cost has to go upl to $3900 per apt. Isn't that a 90% increase? Where's that money going to?

Derek is a brilliant human being. He also loves bourbon. He should also be the President of Covenant College. Her certainly has the name for it. Say it with me now "Derek Haaallllvorson." It's a beauty.

Evan, glad I could be of some assistance. Grab me for coffee or lunch whenever you've got big questions and I'll do what I can to answer them (though I can't promise that I know much about the inner workings of the college's different departments and offices--only something about the the big picture). I wish I could answer your question about the Student Apartments, but I haven't a clue. (I do know that they were originally intended as temporary structures, and probably shouldn't be around anymore.)

Josiah, thank you for your kind words. I'm not sure that I'm worthy of them, and I'm quite confident that NBN should be the president of Covenant College. The man has skills, passion and vision that are tough to match; we've just got to find some more ways to let people get to know him. (Like I should have web-cammed his 'pastoral' visit with Wendy and me at Erlanger this past Saturday, when he came down to hug us and chat and pray with us before Banks went into surgery.)

Thanks, too, for your paean to my name. I've never been complimented on how my name sounds before ... though your Freudian slip ("HER certainly has the name for it.") is making me a little bit nervous.

Wow! I lived in Carter for three straight years -- this 'splains a lot! ;->

I love the building and certainly hope that as much of the historic character as possible can be preserved. I'm still lamenting the "shell" placed on the building in the 70s (80s?), although that did create the ability to install the wonderful deep bookshelves on the outer walls of Carter dorms.

I'm just two hours away and yet I haven't been on campus in YEARS. Gotta do something about that! I suspect I may not even recognize the place. Except for the omnipresent fog -- I'd recognize THAT.

J. Derek-
Your comments are likewise helpful to concerned parents of future students! Thanks for setting the record straight. Secondly, I would have to agree that you are a big asset to Covenant (you and God get credit here), and have a great name (your folks get the credit here). But it seems to me you need to get the word out about that first name!!