Opinion: Gettysburg College is Stuck in the Past

By Dominic DiLuzio, Guest Columnist

Gettysburg is known for its rich Civil War history. College ambassadors highlight the history of the College from the moment a new student steps onto campus, speaking of Union and Confederate troops occupying Penn Hall and underscoring almost every inspirational message with a historic Gettysburg anecdote. However, this inseparability from its history has had an unintentional effect on the College: it has anchored us in the past, preventing innovation, growth, and forward-thinking throughout almost all aspects of the campus community.

Architecturally, the College is stuck in the mid-20th century. Freshman accommodations on their own are an embarrassment to the College and stand alone in their deficits relative to other similar colleges: the gray stone buildings of Dickinson give its campus character and elegance, compared to Gettysburg’s lime-stained, decaying, dilapidated brick rectangles. This, combined with antiquated motels that desperately need new paint, “newconstruction” apartment buildings made of the same boring red brick, and a library that, at risk of being blunt, is plain ugly.

This isn’t a “don’t judge a book by its cover” story—the interior of these halls is almost as bad as their forlorn facades. Servo maintains decor that evokes images of the menu at an Italian restaurant on some hazy vacation. The common rooms of the freshman halls bring a whole new meaning to “tragedy of the commons”—stinking, monochromatic, unpleasant rooms with three to four pieces of furniture fresh from the town dump. The inside of the library is a doctor’s office from 2003. Weidensall is a case study in the landlord ’s special. Even Glatfelter, arguably the most elegant building on campus, leaves much to be desired on the interior.

But worse, beyond just being sickly to look at, Gettysburg’s halls are literally sickening. The basement of Hanson Hall is uninhabitable due to a mold problem (yet still houses laundry facilities) and air conditioners across all freshman dorms are known to house large colonies of mold. These buildings are completely unfit for modern dependence on electronic items. According to the College itself, the presence of air conditioners in every freshman room (a basic and simple amenity) is impossible due to their ability to handle the electrical load. How’s that for historic? Even upperclassmen halls have repeated issues with squirrels, spiders, and mold, begging the question: “College residence or tenement?”

While the College claims to be—and, for the most part, is—innovative within the classroom, there is a constant struggle against the old and the new. With many professors banning laptops for note-taking in classrooms, the faculty of this institution seems to be resistant to modern technology and the modern way of operating within the world. No one would expect, in a secondary institution in 2023, that professors would require essays to be printed for grading or for notebooks and pencils to be required to take notes. Modern technology will not disappear tomorrow. Many employers desire employees that are proficient at using new technology. To restrict the use of technology in the classroom is to admit, openly, that we are stuck teaching the curriculum of yesteryear, no longer focused on providing an education that is modern and no longer equipping our students with the skills for careers beyond.

Gettysburg cannot attract and develop creative, pioneering and groundbreaking students when we cultivate an institution that, through its architecture and beliefs, has a reliance on a long-gone past. We need to break free of historical inhibitions, creating buildings and curricula that encourage and promote the true reason for secondary education; to equip students with the tools, knowledge and mindset needed to enter the modern world. As an institution, we, while still acknowledging our rich and important past, need to get with the times and strive to cultivate the innovation we attempt to preach.

(Photo Eric Lippe/The Gettysburgian)