Phyllis Graber Jensen Published on March 10, 2021
The email went out at 10:07 a.m. on Friday, March 13, 2020, from President Clayton Spencer.
Due to the surging pandemic, Spencer announced, Bates would immediately suspend in-person classes, asking all 1,700 students except those granted waivers through petition to move off campus in preparation for remote learning to begin in 10 days.
“My heart goes out to all of our students,” Spencer said. But, “we are at a pivotal moment with respect to both the spread of the COVID-19 virus and our ability as a college to take proactive, rather than reactive, steps.”
Thus began a year filled to the brim with reactions, proactions, and a lot of Bates teamwork, culminating in a return to campus in August and a successful so far in-person academic year.
Phyllis Graber Jensen Published on February 24, 2021
During spring and summer 2019, as crews excavated for the foundation of the new Bonney Science Center, they removed a stunning amount of ancient blue-gray marine clay more than 10,000 cubic yards, according to an estimate from subcontractor Gendron & Gendron.
We watched captivated as excavating machines scooped and scraped the clay, all clingy, sculptural, and glistening like unappetizing Jell-O. For weeks on end, a procession of G&G dump trucks arrived empty at the Campus Avenue site, across from Carnegie Science, and drove away full of clay.
We found it remarkable, but for G&G, as for earthwork contractors in much of Maine, it was no big whoop.