I’m not sure how it wound up in my newsfeed, but this Amherst Student editorial caught my attention. Opinion - The Amherst Student
Apparently, Valentine Hall, the main dining facility serving the Western Massachusetts NESCAC anchor since 1941, will be facing the wreckers ball in the very near future. It will be replaced by the newly minted student center that will include a complete array of food services for the 1900 students that call Amherst home.
Of course, that building sits upon the rubble of the late, little lamented Merrill Science Center, a 50 year old Brutalism specimen that commandeered the hilltop overlooking the playing fields for most of that time period.
Merrill was replaced by the all glass and steel building that now oocupies the site of what were known as, “the social dorms”, Amherst’s entry into the era of luxury dorm living (which at the time meant that it had separate common rooms for relaxation.)
Then, the social dorms needed to be replaced and that led to a complete rethinking of the campus center of gravity which by now has shifted to the area below the new dining hall.
Valentine was the last holdout, the last traditional hub of campus activity actually facing the town from which the college gets its name. By all accounts it was not in any great state of disrepair (unlike the social dorms which were rumored to have mold.) It just wasn’t glitzy enough. So long, Val.