Renovations on the Collis Center porch — meant to conclude in October — have been delayed another month, according to project manager Geoff Griffin. Construction is now set to wrap up in late November or early December, and students miss a social hub.
The project, which began in June, is set to expand the porch and increase accessibility to make hosting events easier. The delay came after “the scope of the project expanded,” according to senior director of project management services Patrick O’Hern. The College had originally planned to add an accessibility ramp and update the deteriorating porch wall, but now, the construction will extend the porch to wrap around the back of the building, he explained.
The project, which cost $5 million, has been planned for six or seven years, O’Hern said. However, Campus Services postponed the project due to a lack of funding.
“[The funding] just wasn’t coming together at the pace we needed it to,” O’Hern said. “The failing of the wall is a good example. We needed to move this faster than waiting for philanthropy to materialize.”
Many students have responded poorly to the ongoing construction. Prior to the renovations, Collis porch was considered a beloved campus social hub where undergraduates sat outside, socialized and did work, according to Emir Akat ’26. During the interim, the College placed tables and chairs behind Collis and in front of the Class of 1953 Commons to create a new social space.
Akat said the new social space “triggers” him, explaining that he misses the porch.
“I really dislike the chairs between Collis and [’53 Commons],” he said. “They actually trigger me. … I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad day after leaving Collis porch. It just brings your mood up.”
In addition to accessibility improvements, the construction includes a host of technical updates, including a new snowmelt system to make physical upkeep easier in winter months, O’Hern said. In accordance with the College’s decarbonization goals, Dartmouth is also adding an electric boiler to replace the old fossil fuel heating system. Most importantly, the updated Collis porch will have a more “welcoming, inclusive atmosphere”, O’Hern said.
“Years ago, because of the inaccessibility of the porch, we couldn’t host events out there,” he said. “So it was not a welcoming, inclusive kind of atmosphere that we strive to have today. The redesign incorporates all those elements.”
Payton Schetter ’27 said she is unsure about the update to Collis porch — affectionately known by some students as “CoPo.”
“I used to love CoPo — all my friends would sit there,” she said. “Now it just looks really ugly. I don’t want to go to Collis any more, frankly.”
Schetter added that the construction “limits a lot of access to the food.” The building’s North Main Street entrances remain shut, forcing patrons to loop to the back and side entrances for food.
“Having the entirety of the porch being redone during the school year limits a lot of access to the food,” she said. “I can’t go to Collis anymore in between classes, because it takes so much more time to go out of my way all the way around, which seems like a minimal complaint, but honestly, I find that affects me.”
Kason Sabazan-Chambers ’28 and Leobardo Yanez-Delgado ’28 both said they did not feel strongly about the Collis renovations. Sabazan-Chambers dismissed it as “just like another construction area on campus.”
“I haven’t really been able to see what [students] do [on Collis porch] or what I could do with Collis,” Yanez said.
