The current Holland Union Building (HUB) renovations are not LEED certified. Students have concerns about the college’s commitment to sustainability and the lack of clear communication from Dickinson.
Dickinson College prides itself on being recognized as “#1 in the Nation for Sustainability” by the Association of Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. While Dickinson publicly advertises its commitment to sustainability, the major HUB renovations have made students wonder if Dickinson is truly so committed.
Since 2007, the college has made a written commitment to “construct all new buildings and major renovations to meet a minimum standard for LEED Silver certification (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design),” which is repeated on the subheadings titled Buildings & Grounds, Sustainable Operations and Policies under the Sustainability section on Dickinson’s official website.
However, according to Neil Leary, the Director of the Center for Sustainability Education, there have since been multiple construction projects that have not been LEED certified. These buildings include recent renovations to McKenney Hall, Drayer Hall, the Paz Center and, most recently, the HUB. The college website does not accurately reflect this, as it currently states that “Since adopting [the] policy, all completed projects have earned LEED Gold certification.”
Last semester, students from Professor Beever’s Environmental Connections (ENST161) course discussed how the HUB renovations are not LEED certified. Many students expressed their collective disappointment, surprise, and dissatisfaction with the news. Echoing the student’s concerns, Noah Salsich ’25 says, “it frustrates me that [the college hasn’t] kept their word,” adding that “I “think the student body should know [more] about [the issue].”
Although the students’ perspectives are valid, Leary warns them not to misinterpret the college’s policy, as it states a commitment to having all construction projects “meet a minimum standard for LEED,” but it does not specify whether the construction must be done through LEED specifically. David Walker, the head of the HUB renovations, hinted at the nuanced wording, assuring that LEED guidelines are “central to our thinking” when approaching the construction.
Furthermore, Walker says that in the 20 years since the LEED certification process was made, many of the previously high standards are now “view[ed] as normal” by the Carlisle borough and Dickinson’s construction team. He argues that the architects and people involved with the project “feel that [LEED certification is] a formality more than a necessity.” Therefore, it might not make sense for the College to waste money by paying the required LEED fees since the team is already “building to a prescribed budget.”
As Walker says, “ribbons and trophies are nice,” but just because some college buildings do not have a LEED-issued plaque, that does not mean that Dickinson is not keeping its word. He assures students that the College “will never waiver in our commitment to being a leader in sustainability,” no matter how they choose to approach on-campus construction.
Even though Walker and the college claim they are holding the construction to LEED standards, students find it difficult to confirm the veracity of the claim. it should be noted that there is no way to confirm if this is true, at least not from a student perspective. Leary feels out of the loop and weary of the college’s insistence, saying he “would like to see what those standards are and what we’re doing [to meet them] because when I’ve asked, I have not seen [that] information.”
He reasons that “there can be good reasons to not go [through with] LEED certification… [but] I think that when we make those decisions, they need to be decisions that are made with more input from more folks around campus [in order] to have a more open and transparent process.” Leary says that the Center for Sustainability Education was never consulted or included in any discussions over the sustainability of the HUB renovations.
Despite the varied feelings surrounding the construction, students can feel some comfort knowing that the HUB renovations are prioritizing the future sustainability of the building. Walker says that they are replacing much of the old equipment inside the building with updated, more sustainable replacements and are minimizing the energy consumption of the HUB overall. Leary wonders if these new updates will outweigh the environmental cost of construction. He says the new HUB renovations are “either helping solve climate change or… contributing to the problem.”
