Speakers urge URI trustees to reopen W. Alton Jones Environmental Education Center

Speakers at the University of Rhode Island Board of Trustees open forum on Feb. 13 urged the board to reopen the W. Alton Jones Environmental Education Center, a residential environmental-education campus that commenters said has been closed for about five years.

The request was raised during the trustees' public comment period at the meeting held in the Robert J. Higgins Welcome Center, where Anthony Burnett Testa, Devin Casperian, Joe Blotnick and a student identified only as Emma described the campus’s educational value and asked the board to restore university-run programs.

The commenters repeatedly pointed to community demand and prior program revenue. “Please open the gates once more and invite students back to W. Alton Jones,” Anthony Burnett Testa said, asking the board to “honor Mrs. Jones’s legacy” and the original purpose of the gift that created the campus. Devin Casperian, who described nine years as a camper and later working as a counselor, said an online petition about the campus drew “7,000 signatures.” Casperian also told the board that, while she did not have university fiscal records, campers used to pay about $700 for a single week, which she said brought substantial summer revenue into the program while it operated as a university-run activity.

Joe Blotnick, who identified himself as a former director of URI’s environmental education program from 1990 to 1994, described program elements and capacity — “2,300 acres, cabins, a lodge, great cooks from the university” — and said that, during his tenure, he worked to restore the program’s finances so it broke even and later became “completely filled.” Emma, who identified herself as a student at the University of Vermont and a former camper at Alton Jones, said the closure had denied other students the kinds of hands-on learning and leadership experiences she recalled.

Speakers also said the campus has been unused for years and that university purchasing put out a request for information at one point seeking third parties to assume responsibilities for the property. The board did not take action at the meeting; Chair Margo (Chair, Board of Trustees) acknowledged the comments and said the topic was being “spent time on,” and asked speakers to sign off after their remarks.

No vote or formal direction to staff on the future of Alton Jones was recorded in the open-session minutes. The comments were part of the meeting’s open forum; the board listened but did not interact with the presenters as part of that protocol.

Speakers and attendees who raised this issue were asked to leave contact information and were thanked by the chair. The trustees did not provide an immediate timeline or next steps for reopening the campus during the public portion of the meeting.