A chilly night out stargazing. A walk with friends on the Small Loop. A sunrise hike to The Rock. For years, Deerfield students have been wandering off to the outskirts of a loosely defined campus after dark and usually without signing out. The administration changed that arrangement over the summer by redefining campus into two sections, Upper and Lower Campus, and requiring students to sign out when crossing those boundaries.

The Student Life Office met in June of 2024 to revise these protocols. Previously, the handbook considered The Rock, Richardson’s, Bittersweet Bakery Café, and the Williams Sugar House as places “on campus.” But as Dean of Students Samuel Bicknell said, “In reality, that’s not Deerfield Academy property.” The updated handbook now lists these locations as off-campus.

This year, the administration introduced two new terms, Upper and Lower Campus, to help describe what areas encompass campus. The perimeter around all Academy buildings defines Upper Campus, while the area encompassing the Lower Fields and Wells Cross Road loop is included in Lower Campus. Mr. Bicknell said, “The goal there was to offer clarity on where students are expected to be at certain hours of the day…we want students up in the academic and residential realms after dark.”

Stressing the importance of locating students during emergencies, the SLO demarcated campus with safety as their priority. Mr. Bicknell said, “By creating those bounds and asking for all students to sign out if they are off-campus, we have a good pulse as to where students are.”

The handbook changes also address concerns voiced by members in the greater Deerfield community about crossing the busy 5 & 10. “We wanted to add a layer of safety,” Mr. Bicknell said. He also added that Deerfield Academy has “received complaints…about students walking across, biking, or scootering on 5 & 10.” Restrictions on night travel further safeguard against encounters with wildlife such as coyotes and bears.

Many students acknowledged the need for the new precautions. Skye Georgiadis ’25 said, “Deerfield really does try its best to keep every student and every faculty member safe. So I understand why Deerfield has an inclination to create extra precautions, especially since we are teenagers and our frontal lobes are not developed.”

Jeanne Mei Mangan Larouche ’26 added, “They’re just trying to be very cautious. They’re the parental guardians for any borders on campus.”

Yet at the same time, such handbook changes have deterred students from traveling off-campus and enjoying nature. “Before, I knew students who would go to the restricted areas of campus around three times a week,” Georgiadis said. “Now, students traveling to those parts of Deerfield have definitely decreased. It feels more discouraging to travel.”

Larouche echoed this sentiment, saying, “signing out is a whole other step that people have to take, and a lot of people…just don’t want to deal with it.” Austin Zhang ’25, a layout editor for the Scroll, viewed the changes as “just kind of an inconvenience a technicality that is unnecessary and also just annoying for students.”

For Daphne Huang ’25, areas now defined as outside of campus were once secluded spaces to socialize with friends away from the overbearing environment of the Academy. “Some of my best memories are made through times when it’s gotten darker…But I want to go stargazing in a field, not next to all my buildings,” Huang said. “I’m sad that that opportunity to make memories has gone away.” She recounted a time when security stopped her and some friends from walking on the Small Loop after the Blackout dance. “That felt really bad because we just wanted to talk,” she said.

Another pushback against the new change has revolved around the perception that these rules reflect a broader distrust between the administration and students. Huang said, “It fosters distrust between the student body and the administration, as if they think, ‘Oh, you must sign out.’”

Many recognized how handbook changes must strike a delicate balance between ensuring student safety and granting them freedom and liberty. “In the grand scheme of things, safety is the most important thing,” Mr. Bicknell said. “We want students to be learning and living in a safe environment.”

In a different vein, Georgiadis said, “Teenagers want to have fun, and part of the teenager’s experience is exploring your surroundings…Limiting those areas [and] the parameters where you’re able to explore is just not the best way to approach how a teenager can learn who they are through their environment.”