BROWN UNIVERSITY, home of the bears, the books bound in skin, and the children of the rich and famous, has just started work on a new construction project. While the only noticeable sign of this construction so far is the temporary installation of above-ground pipes along the sidewalk, this change of pace has rattled more than a couple Brown students. One such student is Anita Weng ’21.
“I came out of my Arabic class, and there were three guys laying pipe right there on the street,” Weng told The Rib. “I had never seen that before, so yeah, it definitely surprised me at first. But I just kept on walking. What else can you do?”
Weng was not the only student shaken up by the recent construction. John Sexton, a graduate student studying Engineering, described his surprise during his most recent trip to the gym:
“I was walking back from the Nelson, around the backside of Barus and Holley, when I heard a strange noise as I crossed Waterman. I didn’t want to interrupt anything, but I took a look around the corner, and BAM! Some people were laying down this long-a** pipe,” said Sexton. “The area around it was a big mess, so they must have been at it for hours” he added.
When asked what he thought the pipes were for, Sexton responded with a shrug.
“It’s not my place to judge people who want to lay pipe. I just hope that they’re being safe about it and that they’re wearing the right gear to protect themselves.”
The pipes, while fairly utilitarian in appearance, have found ways to make their presence known on campus. Just across the street from the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs, pipe has been erected as high as three feet above street level.
For some, these changes on campus can seem overwhelming:
“You can’t escape it man. People are laying pipe outside of New Dorm. They’re laying pipe all along George Street. They’re laying pipe way down by Bagel Gourmet.” Peter Longwood, ’20, told us. “I even saw pipe being laid down right outside the Granoff Center.”
Other students, however, try not to let the construction trouble them too much.
“I mean, after a long day of studying in the library, you don’t necessarily want to head back to your dorm to see pipe being laid,” Harold Cox ’19 admitted. “But it’s college, you know? This kind of stuff’s just a part of it.”
Image via Allie Arnold