Today's Washington Post article on the new boathouse
Quarrel With College Bares Town's Chronic Resentment
In New St. Mary's Outcry, Talk of Reining In School
By Megan Greenwell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 25, 2007; Page B01
Around a 165-year-old college nestled in a 375-year-old city, discussing the latest town-gown squabble with neighbors leads fairly quickly to rehashing decades of perceived injustices.
"Well, in the '50s, my aunt's property was taken from her by eminent domain," said Linda Vallandingham, who lives a few miles from St. Mary's College of Maryland, a tiny public college near the state's southern tip. "And then there have been several problems when they wanted to build new buildings, not to mention all the labor problems."
"They have operated almost in a total vacuum," state Sen. Roy P. Dyson said of the college. He wants the state university system to oversee it.
The college, adjacent to Maryland's first capital, in St. Mary's City, is inextricably linked with the state's history, a connection its leaders have nurtured as they have molded the institution into a top public liberal arts college. But the complicated relationship between the three St. Mary's -- the college, the historic city and the county they are part of -- has often been tumultuous, most recently in a dispute over the location of a boathouse.
Read more...
In New St. Mary's Outcry, Talk of Reining In School
By Megan Greenwell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 25, 2007; Page B01
Around a 165-year-old college nestled in a 375-year-old city, discussing the latest town-gown squabble with neighbors leads fairly quickly to rehashing decades of perceived injustices.
"Well, in the '50s, my aunt's property was taken from her by eminent domain," said Linda Vallandingham, who lives a few miles from St. Mary's College of Maryland, a tiny public college near the state's southern tip. "And then there have been several problems when they wanted to build new buildings, not to mention all the labor problems."
"They have operated almost in a total vacuum," state Sen. Roy P. Dyson said of the college. He wants the state university system to oversee it.
The college, adjacent to Maryland's first capital, in St. Mary's City, is inextricably linked with the state's history, a connection its leaders have nurtured as they have molded the institution into a top public liberal arts college. But the complicated relationship between the three St. Mary's -- the college, the historic city and the county they are part of -- has often been tumultuous, most recently in a dispute over the location of a boathouse.
Read more...