Published on 02/11/2002

To the Editor of The Day:
I have been reading with dismay The Day's editorials favoring the removal from Norwich of Three Rivers Community College. Rather than maintaining it in the community that worked hard for years to bring and integrate it into our community, you'd rather it be established among the briar patches, decayed buildings and cemeteries of Preston. Of course, students and faculty would have easy access to casino gambling, but that's about it.

Norwich is the hub of nine significant highways leading from all over southeastern New England. No other community in the area has this advantage. Norwich offers the aesthetics of a beautiful harbor and marina area, restaurants, theaters, an excellent library and retail shopping. Programs for area children and the elderly are well established. The name itself, Three Rivers Community College, is the key that the college is a community endeavor. The three rivers — the Yantic, Shetucket and Thames — are in Norwich, not out in the middle of some woods.

The notion of an idyllic campus located among the birds, bees, rolling green pastures and corn fields of a town that doesn't exist except on a map is beyond idealism. Just think about the isolation of the University of Connecticut at Storrs, and perhaps you'll understand my point. After all, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Connecticut College and Mitchell College are in New London, not in the boondocks. 

Harold A. Soloff
Norwich