In the Sept. 14 article about Robert Sell, I read about the “pushback from what the college has deemed a small group of College Hill residents.” I know this is what somebody at Lafayette tells the board, prospective students and their families and reporters. Who is this person? Certainly not President Alison Byerly, Vice President of Finance and Administration Roger Demareski, or the numerous lawyers who have attended the many city council and Planning Commission meetings about the proposed expansion into the College Hill neighborhood. They would tell you about the crowded, vocal meetings. They would tell you that long time resident Caron Anderson Kotsche, a Lafayette alumna, presented a petition signed by over 200 residents who protest the expansion into our historic residential community.  Considering the fact that Lafayette has purchased over 150 properties and probably displaced more than 300 former or potential College Hill residents.

That is not “a small group.”

Written by College Hill resident Peggy Palmer.

The Lafayette would like to note that in multiple interviews since the announcement of the expansion plan, both President Alison Byerly and Vice President of Finance and Administration Roger Demareski have labeled those resistant to expansion on College Hill as a small group of residents.