My petition was read by the powers that be and signed by all but two Dryer guys. Many thanks to Brenton, Bruce, and Dr. Nyquist for hearing our pleas.
Dear President Paul Nyquist and Trustees of our school,
The men of Dryer are a peculiar lot. Tucked a football field or two away from the rest of Moody’s campus, we are considered unsociable wild men by our sister floors. The Culbertson gentlemen seem to view the three floors of Dryer Hall as a bit of a mission field.
We are a shirttail-cousin of the other dorms, the black sheep, the aunt who never married. Our building is dilapidated, our satellite dish flickers and dies periodically, the rats outside the building have names. The most perfect definition of irony would have to be the out-of-order dryers populating the Dryer hall Laundromat. Indeed, Dryer Hall and the 150 men who call her home are a most unique addition to the Moody campus.
But may I say: we don’t mind being unique. We have our own fellowship; our own brotherhood here in our little Dryer Hall. I have confidence those students who are privileged enough to call her home desire to call her home always during their stay at Moody. For Dryer Hall has many advantages over her bigger sister Culby. Its distance from the campus hub makes us feel that we go to school and then come back home to our dorm. Culbertson residents do not understand this concept as clearly as a Dryer man. Through no fault of their own, they must suffer narrower hallways and shared bathrooms, and for what? A spot closer to the lunchroom.
Yes, Mr. President, Dryer has much that she can boast southward down LaSalle boulevard. But she boasts the loudest of her crown. Her rooftop porch.
For once one walks onto the rooftop and shuts the porch door, all the doubt about who is queen of the dormitories is swept away by sheer power of the wind that hits your body. It peels back all the layers of dates and facts and bible references and leaves the student standing there basking in the fierce glory of God.
Imagine yourself on our porch. It is midnight. It is cold now, it is night, it should be black, yet the Hancock building is lit up big as day on your left hand side, only the tip of a star is visible. You look down on the Moody campus and realize how small you are and how big God is and the reason you’ve come to this massive city. We’ve come to seek God.
Dryer’s roof is a place of solitude, a precious commodity in the hustle-bustle, bright flashing city of Chicago. One can ease back and relax in an outdoor place of safety.
At times, the porch is also a place of fraternity and brotherhood. Dryer 2 hosted its end of the year farewell on the rooftop porch. Students do homework, discuss God, and spit sunflower seeds together on the rooftop. This is a gathering place, just like Culby 2. Does one shut down Culby 2? The porch means so much.
Our building is decrepit, but Dryer-the people Dryer, not the building- are strong in the Lord. We understand finances are tough. We would survive without a roof. The Lord teaches us to be joyful in all circumstances.
But if we abandon the roof and dismiss it as old and unmanageable, we men of Dryer would lose so much of what makes Moody special to us-the feeling of safety, the visions of beauty, and the power of one-on-one communion with God in one of the best vistas many of us have ever seen.
What follows are the signatures of those who desire to keep the roof open for Dryer residential use. We strongly urge you to come before our Lord in prayer and reconsider your decision. Hoping that God leads you to his sovereign will, and knowing His will is best, we remain faithfully yours.
Unanimously,
The Men of Dryers 1, 2, and 3
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