Henry Gamble ’24 is a politics and public affairs and French double major from Wooster, OH

HENRY GAMBLE, Staff Writer—

This summer, Denison University’s official Instagram posted an announcement informing its followers of a donation to the University from Rick and Cindy Kienzle for the purpose of building a new lacrosse stadium on Denison’s campus. 

Within a few hours, the post had gained hundreds of comments, the vast majority of which criticized both the construction and the format of the announcement. Unsurprisingly enough, the post was updated, which worsened the situation. The update changed key words such as “stadium” to “field” in an attempt to calm down the students. As one of the upset students, I wanted to express myself, so I decided to create a petition, which at the time of this writing has 313 signatures. After several weeks of coordinating with administration, I was able to schedule a meeting, and was told that the stadium would be built regardless. 

While thinking about even the last year on campus, it’s easy to forget the large lawn that the industrial-esque wellness center now sits on, or the acre of woods where the box-like steam plant now operates. The destruction of the varsity fields, one of the last large green swathes on campus, would continue this trend. It seems that even as the school moves to be more sustainable on paper, its campus is losing its natural charm. These spaces are where students go to escape the reach of Denison, they go sit outside, talk with friends and decompress, the loss and destruction of spaces like these directly affects the student body and creates a more enclosed campus. 

The rate at which these spaces are disappearing may not seem alarming, but within a few years of this constant construction, we might find ourselves surrounded by buildings wondering where our beloved green spaces went. It’s time to start being less reactive as a student body and far more proactive in not only expressing ourselves but taking action. 

This is where I want to talk about student input at Denison. Through all my years here, I couldn’t count the number of times I have heard talk about the importance of relationships and dialogue at Denison: It’s practically our motto. It seems in this decision-making process; everything was done to reduce student input and exposure to this project. The announcement being made on Instagram seems almost deliberate to avoid attention, in stark contrast to Denison’s continuous publicity of the new Ann and Thomas Hoaglin Wellness Center, a more popular construction. The shock of the student body displayed both in the comments under Denison’s post as well as the petition seem to indicate that indeed, the measure is unpopular. I believe that we as Denison students are always willing to share our opinions, and we’re expected to do so, it’s what makes our school special. Administration themselves have asked numerous times for our input through pulse surveys and polls. They correctly assessed that it’s necessary to foster and promote interactions between students and themselves to maintain a healthy and productive environment. However, when our opinion is not asked, when it is overlooked, is when it’s the most important to share. In the absence of these facilitated relationships, it is our job to speak up, and to make ourselves heard, even if told to be quiet. 

In attempting to summarize my issues with the construction, I was able to break my questions and complaints down into two separate fields. First, I feel that Denison is gradually losing its green spaces while claiming to being environmentally conscious and sustainable and secondly, I feel that this construction violated the trust between Denison’s student body and its administration, with the formatting of the announcement as well as the lack of input.