To the Editor:
The plan to put a large new arts building behind the existing Folsom Library seems without regard for the only place of natural serenity and scenic outlook on the whole campus. The campus already comes across as crowded, with only token regard for cultivating and preserving natural, green, and restful space for students to enjoy. Even recent additions of the polymer center, and renovations of the Winslow Building and the Approach, have been steadily reducing the number of large trees and greenery on the campus and shrinking its small natural buffers between downtown and the surrounding streets.
A suggestion is that the proposed location be re-thought, leaving the open space as a continuum of the library and surrounding buildings. For present and many past students, this space, apart from providing a great location to look out over the city, notice wildlife, or to lie on the grass and read or relax, counterbalances the "blockiness" of various campus buildings with little such space between and around them.
Of course, matters such as these may not seem to be of as great importance to the school as some of its larger plans. However, such plans should seek to amend and preserve the attractiveness of the campus, in a literal and psychological sense, rather than just in the variety of courses offered or social life it offers.
Percival Miller ’98
