Latest Wetherell Construction Update

By ERIN HAN, JANIBEK SUBKHANBERDIN, and ANDREW YANG

Wetherell has been under construction since the summer of 2023. Now, Wetherell is nearing a year of construction, and students are still curious about its progress. Recently collected responses from faculty and the student body have illustrated people’s opinions on the construction. Students and teachers have reflected on the noise disturbances of Wetherell’s construction and the effects it has on their daily life. 

The project has been making steady progress toward its predicted day of completion in September. 

Capital Project Manager Joana Rossi detailed the official construction schedule: “According to the current construction schedule, Merrill Hall will be complete this August. Langdell Hall and the new Dining Hall will be completed this September. The opening of the dining hall to the campus is being finalized so that the dining services team has adequate time to become familiar with the new building.”

However, the project has not been clear of setbacks, which caused the overall delay in the schedule. The main setback—unforeseen soils. Rossi explained, “The overall schedule was delayed from unexpected unsuitable soils that were discovered under the old dining hall foundations, which required more soils to be removed during excavation to make a stable base for the new foundations.” This discovery required the project to take additional steps of deliberation and planning. 

She continued, further noting the uniqueness of the project. “Overall, this project is complicated due to constructing a new building between two existing older buildings. For all projects, our project team expects some surprises and has processes in place to document and develop solutions quickly.”

  She continued, “[For instance] the discovery of unsuitable soils impacted the overall schedule and is a good example of issues that can impact a construction project. For this example, Harvey Construction and our design team worked diligently to come up with a solution and then execute but unfortunately, the additional work delayed the completion date.”

Rossi also depicted the image of the dining hall that would stand on campus in the fall of the next school year, sharing that she is “most excited about the [new] dining area, as it is a large volume of space with an impressive barrel-vaulted ceiling — approximately thirty feet above the dining tables and seats — along with many windows along the walls for natural light and views.” 

In addition, she mentioned that the new building would provide better experiences for the dining staff: “The dining services department is anxiously waiting for a new facility that will be a better fit for programmatic needs and vastly improve operational efficiencies.”

For most teachers, the construction of Wetherell has had minimal impact on their classes. Instructor in Modern Languages Katherine Fair remarked, “The noise has caused minor disruption in my classes. I am on the fourth floor, and my classroom sometimes gets so warm that I have to open windows. Unfortunately, I frequently have to close them again so that everyone can be heard around the table.” 

Echoing this sentiment, Instructor in Modern Languages Richard Schieber explained that he too sometimes close his windows to manage background noise from the site. Earlier in the year when the weather was hot, Schieber would at times have to use air purifiers for his classroom, not being able to keep the windows open due to the noise from the construction.

Instructor in English Katie Brule detailed how construction has had a greater impact on her social life than her classes. Teaching in the basement, her classroom is sheltered from the noise and pollution. Brule also explains that for any classes she would take to Wetherell, she now finds it just as easy to take them to Grainger. 

Outside of her work life, Brule reflected that, prior to the start of construction, she would often eat dinner with her friends at Wetherell, but now she finds that she does so less often. “I used to go to Wetherell to eat dinner with my friends every night, to avoid some of the Elm Street chaos, but Grainger doesn’t have the same sort of environment and energy.” 

When observing the construction’s progress, Brule remarked, “It’s always amazing to me how the construction seems to have nothing happen at all and then suddenly everything happens really fast.” This seemingly instant, untrackable progress has prompted her to wonder when construction will be completed, finding that that is what takes up most of her mind when asked about its progress.

Some teachers take inspiration from the construction and feel that it elevates their classroom more than it disrupts. For example, Instructor in English Brooks Moriarty detailed, “If anything, the construction has been a boon for curiosity and provided a helpful backdrop to our work a few times.” 

Moriarty continued, “On a few occasions I have pointed to work happening outside the window to make a point about a particular writing skill that we are working on in the 9th-grade classes.” 

The construction has garnered mixed reviews among the student body. Although some students reflected that the loss of Wetherell largely impacted their dining habits, others commented that the construction didn’t leave a large negative impact on their lifestyle. 

Lower Ronald Qiao, a resident of Abbot Hall, stated that, “The most direct impact of the construction was losing the convenience of having a dining hall 30 seconds away from the dorm; it made me eat in dining halls less compared to Grill or DoorDash. Also, Grainger’s interiors are nowhere near as pretty as Wetherell.” 

Qiao also commented on the noise disturbances of the construction. “The construction is sometimes noisy, and I often use earplugs or wear airpods on noise cancellation with rain sounds as a background.”

Kamilah Alabi, a resident of Wheelwright, talked about similar experiences as Qiao. Alabi mentioned, “Due to the temporary dining hall distance from Wheelwright and the time constraints that accompany it, I rarely ever eat breakfast after the renovation. I only have a comfortable breakfast on occasion in Grainger.” 

Alabi also spoke to the decrease of activity on the north side of campus since the construction of Wetherell. “With the construction taking up so much room on the quad, many students are forced to change the locations of countless weekend activities, resulting in the north side being empty of students for most of the term’s weekends,” Alabi remarked.

In contrast, Prep Allen Klingel, a resident of Abott Hall, noted that construction noises affect him, but he doesn’t think that it has largely impacted his life. “It hasn’t impacted my life whatsoever, except for occasionally distracting me when I do homework during the afternoon, but I just wear earplugs when that happens,” Klingel said. 

Prep Kenny Liu from Soule Hall shared a similar reaction. “The construction has mainly made some noise outside Soule, sometimes making it hard to study or concentrate, but it’s not a huge impact. I feel like the progress of the construction is going well. Sometimes I go to the library to study if it’s loud, but the construction has not disrupted life in any major way,” Liu said. 

As the construction of Wetherell continues to progress on schedule, students and faculty have agreed that the impact on their lives has been manageable. Classes have suffered minimal disruption and the site’s noise, although at times jarring, has not created any urgent concerns. Most of the construction’s impact concerns Exeter’s social landscape, with both teachers and faculty detailing the problems caused by the temporary relocation of the dining hall to Grainger.