On Mar. 18, 2026, The College Voice received a letter from Connecticut College President Andrea Chapdelaine in response to a letter from faculty addressed and sent to President Chapdelaine and the Board of Trustees against the termination of Lorelai Frantz’s contract with the Blue Camel Cafe. This faculty letter had garnered 84 signatures from of support from faculty. The letter of response from President Chapdelaine is attached below. For more information on this situation, please read The College Voice’s article on this situation.
March 18, 2026
Dear colleagues,
I am writing in response to your recent letter about the Blue Camel Café. Over the past several weeks, I have had many conversations with students, faculty, staff, and with Lorelei Frantz. I appreciate the care and concern so many members of our community have expressed about Lorelei and the Blue Camel. After considering this feedback and the broader needs of the College, we have decided to move forward with the transition of the Blue Camel to a student-run café under Conn Coffee. That said, your feedback has led to additional steps to support Lorelei and our students during this transition, and I wish to express gratitude for your thoughtful input.
We are deeply grateful for Lorelei Frantz’s many years of service as a vendor supporting our campus community and contributing to the life of the College. We will continue to support her through this transition, and in my conversations with her, she has expressed appreciation for that support and readiness to move forward. One of her concerns was for the students who have worked with her, and we have assured both Lorelei and the students that they will be provided employment opportunities at Conn Coffee, the library, or in other positions on campus.
Because this matter involves a contractual relationship, the College is limited in what it can share publicly. I recognize that this can be frustrating, but these limits are important both for the institution and for the individuals involved. Given those constraints, some commentary circulating within the community, including statements in your letter, reflects misunderstandings of the process and intent. I want us to focus on next steps, but do feel it is important to note that the decision not to renew the vendor contract was separate from the planning for a student-run café. As I have stated in my earlier communications, this decision was made in the best interests of the College as well as with a commitment to support Lorelei through this transition.
As we move forward, I hope we will collectively help our students as they take on this leadership opportunity. Connecticut College has a long history of student-run coffee shops, and transitioning the Blue Camel in this way builds on that tradition while offering valuable opportunities for leadership, learning, and responsibility.
In the coming months, students, faculty, and staff will be asked to provide ideas on the future of the café, exploring what should remain central to the space, which offerings or traditions should continue, and how we shape the space going forward. My hope is that we move forward collaboratively to ensure that the Blue Camel remains an important gathering space for our community and an exciting new venture for our students.
We will not always agree on every decision; that is a normal part of life in an academic community. What matters most is that we continue to engage in dialogue and work together to support our students and strengthen the College.
As requested, I shared your letter with the board of trustees. Since this is an administrative matter, they determined that it does not necessitate a board response. Further they stated, “the board has full confidence in the president’s leadership and in the careful deliberation that informed this administrative decision made on behalf of the College as a whole.”
Sincerely,
Andrea Chapdelaine
President
