Although Boston University officials were unable to disclose the cost of maintaining the Sargent Center for Outdoor Education in interviews Tuesday, they said BU intends to close the center at the end of August because of budget concerns.
Vice President of Operations Gary Nicksa said he did not have figures available for the cost of facilities or basic upkeep of SCOE. Over the past few years, however, BU has found the cost of maintaining the 700-acre, southern New Hampshire facility excessive, he said.
‘It’s hard to maintain something that’s that large, that far away,’ he said.
SCOE was donated to BU in 1932 and has been home to various student leadership retreats and orientation events in recent years. BU has made no final decisions about what will happen to the property, said Nicksa, who has visited the center in the past.
‘Anything we can do to make the transition easier for the people who have been there any number of years, we will do,’ he said. ‘We are looking at alternatives now, but there has been no decision made about what to do with the property.
‘There’s no shortage of good ideas at BU, just a question of what we can afford,’ Nicksa said.’
SCOE ‘is an obviously excellent program, but not quite as centered on our research and teaching mission as a university,’ Nicksa said. ‘It’s always a difficult decision, given the resources, what you will do and what you won’t be able to do.’
Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore said he usually visits the property twice a year, and the student groups he works with go there more often.
‘It’s certainly one of those things that a lot of our students had experiences there, and it’s a sad sort of circumstance,’ he said. ‘But I hope we’ll be able to make a way for students to get that same kind of team building and those bonding kind of experiences they were able to get at Sargent Camp. They’ll be able to still get the appropriate training and leadership experiences we provide here on the Charles River Campus.
‘It’s sad, but the university has to do things that are in our best interests overall, and this is in the university’s best interest,’ Elmore said.
BU spokesman Colin Riley said the decision to shut down the center was made with ‘full input’ from the ‘directors and those staff it affected.’ He said President Robert Brown evaluated the situation by looking into how the center fit into his strategic plan, a decade-long approach to institutional development.
‘With what the president’s vision for the strategic plan is, it is an operational decision of the university,’ Riley said. ‘These are difficult times that require difficult decisions.’
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I was under the impression that Sargent has typically covered its own operating costs. If BU is moving in a different direction, perhaps in the future the center will be able to emerge as an independent non-profit.