Berry College alumni petition after historical buildings razed

At 27,000 acres, Berry College lays claim to being the world’s largest campus.

“By far,” the college says as fact on its website.

It also says as “opinion” that its campus in Rome, about 60 miles from downtown Atlanta, is “the most beautiful.”

The beauty lies in part to its gothic Ford Complex — funded by Henry Ford and his wife — and the many historical buildings that wound up earning it a place on the National Register of Historic Places.

Many Berry alumni and aficionados worry that status has been threatened by decisions earlier this year to demolish two historic structures on campus: Pinewood Cottage and Cherokee Lodge. These are the among the eight buildings razed since 2008.

Former site of Cherokee Lodge on Berry College's Mountain Campus. (Photo Courtesy of Jonathan Garcia/Berry College)

Jennifer Dickey, Berry’s contracted historical preservationist of almost 20 years, said she was not consulted on the demolition of Pinewood or Cherokee, sitting unused at the time of their demolition. She said she was fired in late May, days after posting comments on Facebook criticizing the decisions. While her dismissal was confirmed by others including a retired faculty member, the college has had nothing to say about it.

A petition made by alumna Angela Dickey, Jennifer’s sister, was adapted by other alumni into a Change.org petition with more than 1,100 signatures calling for increased transparency regarding historical preservation.

“The destruction and replacement of these structures with modern facilities not only threatens to erase physical chapters of the college’s history, but also risks severing our community’s connection to a shared past that unites us all,” the petition says.

Pinewood Cottage was built circa 1920, making it one of Berry’s oldest buildings. Cherokee Lodge, the second oldest building on Berry’s Mountain Campus, was built by Mount Berry Farm Schools students in 1920. Dickey said no public notice was given of either demolition. Many alumni discovered what had happened during alumni weekend in May.

“What makes Berry’s campus unique and one of the reasons why it was added to the National Register of Historic Places is that the majority of its historic structures are still extant and were either built or planned to be built during the founder’s lifetime,” said Blake Howard, a Berry alumnus and part of a group of alumni dedicated to preserving Berry’s history.

“We understand that not every building can be saved, and its original function preserved. The issue here is that Berry has continually chosen over many years that many of its structures are not worth the effort it would take to stop them from being condemned.”

The recent demolitions raised concerns about other historic buildings on campus as the new school year approaches, including Berry’s art building, Moon. The Berry student newspaper the Campus Carrier reported in November that the college’s president, Sandeep Mazumder, said at a Student Association meeting that “Moon is probably the building that’s come up to me the most from anyone — faculty, staff and students — that probably needs to go.”

“We have to tread the line carefully, of course, between keeping the historic buildings that have been there a long time and also innovating and updating where appropriate,” he was quoted as saying.

Berry College President Sandeep Mazumder addresses the graduates during his first graduation as college president in May. (Photo credit: Jeff Brown/Berry College)

Mazumder was contacted by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for an interview, but the request was declined by the college’s chief of staff, Casee Gilbert. Gilbert also declined an interview request.

Berry College spokesperson Chris Kozelle told the AJC the demolitions amount to less than 1% of the college’s square footage. Kozelle said any construction on campus must reflect the college’s commitment to wisely utilize resources for current and future generations.

“Berry College approaches every building renovation, restoration, rebuild or replacement with care and intentionality,” Kozelle said in a statement. “Rooted in our master plan, which incorporates the rich architectural history that makes Berry distinctive, we begin each project by returning to our mission: educate the head, heart and hands of our students.”

Regarding Jennifer Dickey’s departure from the school and her claim that she was fired, Kozelle responded that the school does not comment on the status of consultants.

The demolition debate

Berry College was founded more than a century ago by Martha Berry, the daughter of a local business owner. She offered Sunday school lessons to nearby communities that lacked access to both church and school. Berry decided in 1902 to devote the 83 acres she had inherited from her father to found the Boys Industrial School. A school for girls was created in 1909.

Martha Berry. (Courtesy of Berry College)

The college has a mission to provide real work experience and mentorship to all students who become part of the campus. Whether students are mentored by an older student, or they are working a paid campus job through the LifeWorks program, Berry works to provide an opportunity for every student to develop skills and confidence in their college experience.

Berry alumni say that is part of what makes the college special, along with its buildings.

Before Dickey’s dismissal, she was involved in the documentation and preservation of the two African American cemeteries on the Mountain Campus. She was managing a $50,000 grant the college received to survey and document the cemeteries with the goal of getting them listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“None of these buildings should have been demolished ... Berry should never deliberately demolish any of its historic buildings, especially those constructed between 1902 and 1942,” Dickey said in an interview with the AJC.

Rome architect Mark Cochran was consulted on the state of Cherokee Lodge. He served for several years on the city’s Historic Preservation Commission, including a term as co-chair, and worked to help form the Underground Rome tours as part of the Preservation Month activities. Cochran said he concluded while individual components of the structure could be retained, the overall repair needed would have involved replacing many parts rather than continued use of the building.

“My conclusion was not that the Pinewood or Cherokee Lodge lacked historic, architectural or emotional value,” Cochran said via email. “It was that the degree of removal and replacement required to provide safe, functional, and durable reuse would have left too little of the existing construction for rehabilitation to remain a technically accurate or practically responsible description of the work.”

Sunset over the Berry College campus. (Photo by Brant Sanderlin/Berry College)

Kozelle said the college uses both internal resources and external consultants to support campus projects. She noted Cochran’s work in restoring Barnwell Chapel on campus and other preservation initiatives throughout Rome.

A new building will be constructed on the site of the now-demolished Cherokee Lodge that Cochran consulted on, according to Cochran. He said he will also be responsible for the design of the structure.

“I would describe that project as new construction informed by the historic building rather than as a restoration or reconstruction of Cherokee Lodge,” Cochran said. “The intent is to recall and interpret the architectural character of Cherokee Lodge while creating a contemporary building that meets current functional, safety, accessibility, and performance requirements.”

Alumni and faculty concerns

The demolitions have left Berry navigating what appears to be a communication gap between its administration and community members. Petitioners have not called for demolitions to stop entirely, but for a clearer and more consistent process for deciding which buildings stay and which come down.

David Y. Mitchell, executive director of the Atlanta Preservation Center, grew up in Rome. He said the ideal practice in preservation is repair over replacement. He referenced Evans Hall, which had its shutters replaced, as an example of where a flaw should have been repaired instead of replaced entirely.

“When you remove our landscape and the things that define who and what you are, under the auspices of progression, you lose something. Even the enlightenment was still romantically associated with art and architecture,” Mitchell said.

To Cheryl Freeman Snipes, the recent demolitions are an indicator that Berry is trying to erase its history.

Freeman Snipes is founder and president of the Freemantown Historical Foundation, a local organization whose mission is to preserve the history of Freemantown, a freed slave settlement that was on the property owned by Berry, and the cemetery that is on the campus.

“I think anything that is history should not be demolished. Mine or anyone else’s. I just want to make sure that Freemantown remains,” Freeman Snipes said.