University delays opening Whitman

The opening of Whitman College and the corresponding increase in the size of the University student body will be delayed by one year until 2007, officials said Tuesday.

Vice President for Facilities Michael McKay said "the official cost estimate that came in this past fall was higher than originally expected. As a result, we had to do value engineering in order to cut costs so that the college would fit into our budget."

The redesign required that the blueprints be modified and the extra step put the construction project behind schedule from the beginning. President Tilghman said the nature of the materials being used for Whitman contributed to her decision to delay its opening. The college was designed by architect Demetri Porphyrios GS '80 and features masonry walls and limestone done in a traditional gothic style. As a result, it is expected to be more time-consuming to erect than structures designed in contemporary styles.

Rather than impose the delay, the University could have built a part of Whitman and allowed students to move in while other sections were still being constructed.

"We'd rather build it well than rush and build it in pieces that would be opened separately," Tilghman said. She explained that the final decision was made based on the recommendation of the University construction team.

"I said we didn't think we could deliver the project by 2006," McKay said. His team, which consists mainly of Facilities employees, usually meets with the contractors and architects to discuss the progress on Whitman several times each week.

Recently the team has been getting updates on utility construction, which consists of laying sewage and drainage lines that will service the college once it is constructed. McKay said a variety of lines ran underneath the tennis courts that previously occupied the site, and these had to be redirected so as not to interfere with Whitman's foundations.

McKay does not expect work on the structures of Whitman College to start until early July.

Tilghman characterized the delay as beneficial. She said, "it gives us potential wiggle room to plan out the logistics of phasing in the new four-year residential college system."

Once Whitman is completed, the University will have six residential colleges. Butler, Mathey and Whitman Colleges will be turned into four-year communities while Forbes, Rockefeller and Wilson will remain two-year colleges.

"Admitted students will be assigned at random to one of the six colleges, and at the end of sophomore year students will have the option of continuing in a residential college," said Tilghman. Those in Whitman, Butler or Mathey who opt for a four-year college can stay, while those in other colleges will have the option of moving.

The goal of the four-year college program is to bring upperclassmen, freshmen and sophomores together in more campus social and academic events.