To the Editor of the Record:

Bravo to Prof. Shawn Rosenheim for his recent letter to the Record and for his future intentions.

Having been a resident of Williamstown for close to 60 years, I have been dismayed and disgusted at the College’s evolving penchant for erecting multi-million dollar structures that are an aesthetic blight on the landscape of this once bucolic village. Before the College started building Frankenstein structures composed of discordant pieces — and behemoths as soulless as blockhouses — the buildings sat in relative harmony with each other and nature. And harmony is not a bad thing.

Of course, it’s far from only a matter of aesthetics. As Rosenheim articulately points out in his brave and passionately objective letter, the newest structures are making tremendous carbon footprints. It is heartening to know that Rosenheim is the new chair of the Campus Environmental Advisory Committee. Perhaps his fearless calling of the College into accountability will help to stem its most unwelcome encroachments into the quality of our lives and that of our planet.

Ralph Hammann