We do not believe building student housing  (five buildings, 350 beds) on Austin Green is a wise decision for the Merrimack College community and the surrounding neighborhood. 

We are petitioning you to act more responsibly and make expansion and growth decisions with fortitude and consideration for the college, North Andover and Andover communities.  Austin Green is not the only area of property owned by the college that is available for construction.  However, it is the last large amount of green space on campus available for your students to enjoy recreational activities on and provides your campus with open space that attracts students to the school. 

 Austin Green also borders a large family and college friendly neighborhood.  Your college does not contribute any tax base to the community. However, as taxpayers we provide you with the services that keep your students safe.  We think it is in your best interest to keep our community safe by building your dorms elsewhere. It is unfair for you to ask students and families to coexist. Students deserve the college experience and do not need the prying eyes of Andover residents on their daily activities. Residents deserve to raise families and live in an area free of noise, crime, traffic, and parking problems.  These problems are all issues that Phase Two of your plan does not make accommodations for.  This phase will not be successful if students and residents are forcefully required to reside in such close proximity.

We also beseech you to respect and remember the traditions in which Merrimack College was founded on.  Austin Green was a gift from a neighbor who recognized the benefits your institution would bring to the local community. Merrimack College may have expanded globally but it does not need to ignore its past in the process.  This plan is part of your “Agenda for Distinction.”  This same agenda recognizes some key points that we feel you are boldly ignoring:  placing the common good ahead of the individual good, accountability and responsibility for one another at every level of relationship, and mutual respect and honor among all members of the community. Once you cut down the trees on Austin Green (hand planted by Augustinian Fr. Kenney O.S.A.) and build your bland student town houses, the open space will be gone forever and the gateway to the Andover community will be blighted with construction that could have been built in a more suitable area. We advise you to not leave this as your legacy to Merrimack College, the Town of Andover, and the Town of North Andover.