By Logan Monteleone
Business and Distribution Manager
Washington College will be destroying the Quad, which consists of Talbot, Dorchester, and Cecil Houses, this upcoming summer. The latter two buildings are home to the fraternities Kappa Sigma and Phi Delta Theta, respectively.
While some sentimentality naturally accompanies the loss of buildings that have housed years of student history, most residents of the Quad agree that demolition has been long overdue.
“It’s about time, honestly, and I think the school sees that too,” President of Kappa Sigma Omicron-Phi sophomore BJ King said.
Though still beloved by many fraternity brothers, the buildings in the Quad have some of the most unsanitary conditions on campus and, according to prior Elm coverage, residents became increasingly subject to mold.
“The houses are falling apart,” Phi Delt President junior Liam Lesko said. “A lot of the wood’s rotting, there’s a lot of mold, there’s asbestos.”
Considering the Quad was built in 1971 as 20-year temporary housing, Lesko said, demolition has been lingering at the bottom of the College’s improvement list for years. The motivation for tearing down the Quad now is that the area is “one of the prime locations being identified for the business school, among several…on a very short list,” according to Vice President for Finance and Administration Bo Connell.
According to prior Elm coverage, alumna Beth Warehime donated $15 million to create a school of business, economics, and interdisciplinary social studies at the College. While the decision has not been confirmed, WC President Dr. Mike Sosulski agreed that the Quad location is “one of the top five or six sites” the College is considering for the new academic school.
President Sosulski also said that demolition “actually saves us money, too, to not have to be pumping more maintenance into a set of buildings that are pretty much getting to the end of their useful lives anyway.”
Regarding the fate of fraternity housing, Dean of Students Gregory Krikorian called Lesko and King into a meeting to discuss their options. The two presidents agreed upon their preference for moving into the two unoccupied Hill Dorms rather than each receiving a Western Shore building like the sororities.
“There’s a lot of benefits to that location, you know, being right in the middle of campus,” King said.
Lesko and King both expressed the element of shock that accompanied their impromptu meeting with Krikorian and expressed discontent with the relative short notice of the significant change. However, they said that Krikorian has been helpful in answering their questions and making preparations for the move, including arranging options for storage over the summer.
“Something as big of a project like this, they probably had an idea it was going to happen a long time ago,” King said. “So why [they waited] until a month before housing selection in the spring semester to tell us is kind of a mystery to me…but it is what it is.”
Lesko said that the short time frame is not enough to organize final events in Cecil.
“I want to plan an alumni event to get all the Phi Delts back to see their house one more time. I want to do a lot,” Lesko said. “So, giving me two months to plan, execute, and finish all that is not a lot of time.”
Although sad for the loss of a building with decades of fraternity history, Lesko is looking forward to the beginning of a new era.
“I’m happy to be the president during this because this is a really big moment…for both frats,” Lesko said. “This is going to define the next 50 years…so I’m excited to oversee the transition, [and the Hill] houses are not bad.”
Photo by Selena Francese.
Photo Caption: Quad buildings housed WC’s fraternities for decades.