Construction on a collapsed retaining wall behind the Russian House has caused inconvenience for its residents since it began in September, and Facilities Management hopes to complete the project by Fall Pause.

In April 2015, a retaining wall behind Dickinson’s Russian House collapsed, prompting ongoing construction throughout the summer and into the school year. The wall, which stands about four feet high and is inlaid into the ground, marks the end of the small parking lot behind the house.

A Facilities staff member who wished to remain anonymous said that the wall fell due to the erosion of the land around it.

A Carlisle resident contacted Dickinson’s Director of Grounds in April to fix the wall.

Construction started in September, and is being completed by both an outside contractor and Dickinson staff, said Kristen Kostecky, associate vice president for Facilities Management.

For the students in the Russian House, the construction process has obstructed the house entrance and limited parking spots behind the house.

House Manager Allison Stroyan ’18 called the construction “a very mild inconvenience,”

“The only issue is that we have to walk through someone else’s property, though the neighbors don’t seem to mind,” Stroyan said.

However, Barrett Ziegler ’16 believes that the delays in fixing the wall point to larger problems in the college’s administration.

“The largest inconvenience is just that it blocks our usual way back to campus. But, it’s not that long to walk around the mess using the streets,” said Ziegler. “[The fact] that the repairs are taking so long is the main problem. The HUB was just renovated with new furniture, and [Facilities] is beginning to repurpose rooms in the quads to better serve the incoming freshman. But, our lot was damaged in the spring and only in September was there any work done. It shows that the administration is not focused on the quality of student housing, on the quality of our lives on campus. They were late to address the lack of first-year housing and they have been postponing the repairs to our yard. It will only get harder to set the concrete and mortar for a new wall as we get closer to winter. They should have done it when it was warm. They should have done it shortly after it was so severely damaged. They should have given us a time line…. While I recognize our living situation is not Dickinson’s primary focus, we are students here; we are its customers. I think we should be better included in the management, maintenance, and planning of our housing.”

Kostecky reports that the work done by an outside contractor – namely pouring the foundation – is finished, and Dickinson’s trade’s staff will lay the brickwork to finish the wall.

“The goal is to complete the project prior to fall pause,” Kostecky said.

The new wall will be identical in appearance to the old one, however more significant footing is being added. The construction is being funded through the Facilities Management budget, and Kostecky said the adjoining landowner is sharing some of the costs, as part of the wall is on his land.

Stroyan said that the wall is now a running joke in the house: “The wall fell behind the Russian House – how ironic.”