The Thomas family during a gathering at 16 Elm St.

Last spring, Thurgood Marshall Fellow and Instructor in Religion M. Gideon Khabela and his wife, Nomsa (right), invited students to their home to discuss Gideon’s experiences as a chaplain to the post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and enjoy a traditional meal from their KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa.

“How can the Exeter campus help us live what we teach?” Teachers, students and staff wrestled with this question throughout the Academy Master Plan process. Learning at Exeter is not confined to the classroom, and the Academy must ensure that every facility —from the dormitories to the dining halls—can help students and teachers live and work together.

During this process, it became clear that Exeter housing needs immediate attention. As the market for superb teachers grows more competitive, the limitations of Exeter’s faculty housing are proving a deterrent to teacher recruitment. Currently, Exeter is able to house 74 percent of its teachers—the lowest percentage in its peer group—and the quality of both dormitory and post-dormitory housing is uneven. Together, trustees, faculty and staff have developed the Community Housing Plan to give Exeter a sustainable advantage in faculty recruitment and also to help strengthen advising relationships between students and teachers.

The plan has three concurrent objectives: to renovate existing faculty housing; to construct new housing on or near campus; and to purchase property close to campus when possible. Thanks to the generosity of Exeter alumni/ae and parents, several steps in the plan were accomplished this past summer, and more are underway.

As part of its record-breaking 50th reunion gift, the class of 1952 endowed a new faculty residence across the street from Phillips Church. Classmates named the building Dennen House after Bruce Peter Dennen, who passed away in December 2000. “We will remember Bruce fondly,” said Class President Brian Davis during the dedication, “as a gifted athlete and student, a savvy and successful businessman, a loving and devoted father and a loyal alumnus of Phillips Exeter Academy.”

This gift helped Exeter increase its housing for faculty members who have completed their 10 years of dormitory service. The cost of housing near campus has skyrocketed in recent years, forcing many teachers to purchase homes at considerable distance from school. The Academy would like to obtain more post-dormitory housing and keep these senior faculty members within a five-minute walk of campus, where they are accessible to students and can easily participate in campus activities.

The class of 1968, which will celebrate its 35th reunion in May, is now following in the footsteps of 1952. The class is working to endow the former home of David and Jackie Thomas on Elm Street, and to name the house in honor of the Thomases. Their success will represent another important step forward in the Community Housing Plan.

Other groups have turned their attention to dormitory housing. In celebration of its 25th reunion, the class of 1977 established a fund to improve faculty apartments. The gift will not only assist faculty recruitment, it will also support student advising. Because many dorm faculty apartments are inadequate, teachers may move several times during their 10 years of dormitory service in order to obtain better living quarters for themselves and their families. In a dormitory such as Soule Hall, for example, 16 different faculty members have occupied the three small apartments during the last 13 years. Students living in these dorms are likely to change faculty advisers several times during their Exeter careers. This situation disrupts the stability of dorm advising teams and undermines the personal connections that are essential to good advising between teachers
and students.

Finally, the Parents Fund Committee is also working to support the Community Housing Plan. Above and beyond their Annual Giving Fund goal, they aim to establish a $1.2 million Faculty Housing Endowment Fund that will permanently support high-quality housing for Exeter teachers. Parents are particularly excited about an additional benefit of the Community Housing Plan: it will reduce student-faculty ratios in larger dormitories as these facilities are renovated.

Exeter has made significant strides toward success in the Community Housing Plan over the past year. Slated for renovation this summer is Peabody Hall, and the Academy currently seeks philanthropic support for this and other outstanding projects in the plan. Student life, faculty recruitment, academic advising—all these have been and will continue to be enhanced through the generosity of plan contributors. Housing has been a subtle yet long-standing problem at Exeter for decades; its resolution will enrich every aspect of the Exeter experience.