William & Mary recently unveiled a plan to alter 80% of campus dining and housing facilities over the next 10 years. This project was announced without advance notice or direct student input, despite the fact that extensive demolition will disrupt student life.

Although the three-stage plan attempts to account for logistical problems associated with demolition, such as temporarily reduced dining and housing capacity, any project of this scale--especially on a rapid 10-year timeline--is likely to cause major inconveniences for students. Additionally, unforeseeable delays could leave 'gaps' in the construction timeline, during which the student body would have limited access to dining or on-campus housing options.

Most importantly, these plans were released without direct student input or forewarning. While current students are unlikely to receive much benefit from the final results of this project, they will spend their entire college experiences surrounded by extensive construction. Many current students chose William & Mary because of its reputation as a quiet, tranquil, historic campus. Students in the classes of '23 through '26 enrolled without knowledge of these massively disruptive plans. Therefore, the college's failure to give students advance notice about these plans does not reflect moral standards of informed consent. 

This oversight has a straightforward solution: push back the project's start-date to the fall of 2026.

While some renovations are urgently needed, such as those that would improve the ability of dining staff to prepare food safely and efficiently, many of the demolition plans do not seem pressing. Rather than renovating 80% of facilities in one sweeping 10-year plan, the college should prioritize the most important renovations and move through the rest on an extended time scale. 

By waiting a mere four years to start major demolition and construction events, all active students will have been informed about the project before making the choice to enroll. In addition, students deserve to be granted the agency to make their voices heard about the timeline and nature of these renovations. 

In summary, this petition asks William & Mary to support students' right to be informed about their college before committing to enrollment by either:

(a) pushing back the start date of major demolition, construction, and renovation events to 2026,

(b) extending the timeline to reduce temporary strain on students' access to campus facilities, or

(c) creating a democratic forum in which students can voice their opinions about this drastic plan, and ensuring that this input will be taken into account.

Thank you for your time and support.