In response to student concerns about a lack of Red Adirondack chairs on the Academic Quad, staff members in Facilities Management affirm that no chairs have been removed from campus and that their department has not migrated them since the beginning of the school year.

As of Tuesday, Sept. 15, there was a single chair on the Academic Quad and 17 on Morgan Field. Many students see the chairs as an emblem of Dickinson’s community and began to notice their absence at the beginning of the fall semester.

“There’s definitely a lot fewer chairs around here compared to last fall when I came to visit,” said Molly Gorelick ’19.

“After coming back from abroad, I was disappointed to see so few of my favorite red Adirondack chairs on the Academic Quad,” Kevin Doyle ’16 echoed.

Associate Vice President for Facilities Management Kristen Kostecky responded to student concerns last week, affirming that the chairs are still on campus and have likely been moved by students.

“Facilities staff performed an inventory over the past summer, and we identified that we now have 75,” she said. “Prior to the start of school, we dispersed them throughout campus.  The policy is such that people can move the chairs around campus as they like, so, although there may not currently be any on the academic quad, they are somewhere else on campus.”

Eric Vorodi, director of Grounds and Landscaping, added, “We don’t really interfere with where they are moved on campus….they migrate to the areas where people want them by means of individuals moving them. It would become cumbersome for us to attempt to keep a certain number in any particular area.”

As to the apparent lack of chairs in the academic quad, Vorodi commented that it is likely the result of both “a smaller total count of chairs than what was once on campus, as well as the desire of students, faculty, or staff to have chairs in different locations.”

The 75 figure reported by Kostecky shows a disparity between the 18 chairs observed on the Academic Quad and Morgan Field. This could be attributed to several chairs that students have observed in front of campus owned houses.

Former President William Durden ’71 had the chairs  installed in 1999, and envisioned them to be portable. Created from recycled solid plastic, there are two different styles of Adirondack chairs – the heavy duty resin chairs that are distributed throughout high traffic areas of campus, and the lighter duty plastic chairs on some of the residential porches.

The red chairs have been moved from campus before. According to a letter from Durden in the 2010 issue of the yearbook, one found its way to the front lawn of an administration building at Franklin & Marshall College, and another spent the winter at Gettysburg College before reappearing on campus with an apologetic note.