Even numbers not always the best option for dorm life
Many things come in even numbers. Noah packed his ark with animals paired by twos. Cars have four wheels. Eggs are packed by the dozen.
However, this is not ideal for Bonaventure’s housing options. Adding more variety to the housing options would reduce pre-housing application stress.
Ideally, the accommodations for groups of two, four and six should remain with added options for groups of three and five.
“As an RA, I’ve witnessed a lot of housing drama among my residences and with my own friends,” said resident assistant Emily LoBello. “Friend groups don’t always come in even numbers. Often times people end up rooming with a person they don’t know that well to get an even number and end up with unexpected problems later on.”
LoBello, a sociology major, is a transfer student from Canisius College. Canisius provides upperclassmen houses that can accommodate two, three, four and five residents. According to LoBello, the five-room houses were particularly popular.
This brings Bonaventure’s competitive edge into play. If other colleges and universities have better housing options, this could hurt Bonaventure’s registration numbers at a time when enrollment is declining.
Niagara University offers single, double, and triple rooms along with four-person suites and theme communities that house twelve.
The University at Buffalo offers single, double, triple and quadruple rooms as well. In addition, they offer one bedroom, two bedroom and four bedroom apartments.
Buffalo is less than two hours away, and there are many students at Bonaventure from the Buffalo area. More housing options would boost Bonaventure’s appeal to prospective students.
“I think a lot of it,” said Chris Brown, Director of First-Year Experience and Orientation. “I’m speaking out of opinion, and not fact, that the rooms aren’t really big enough for three people. So it’s looking at the size of what is available and what is comfortable for the number of people who live there.”
Brown said Bonaventure tried to house three people in Devereux Hall and Doyle Hall rooms out of necessity in the past.
“It didn’t work out well,” Brown said. “People were cramped, and it caused a lot of problems. It was not a positive experience.”
Nichole Gonzalez, executive director of residential living, said that triple rooms in Devereux were more successful than the triples in Doyle. Gonzalez said this is because only a few rooms on each floor were used as triples. The rest remained doubles.
However, Gonzalez found the triples did not seem to decrease rooming problems. Many triples became doubles as people moved out of Devereux for various reasons.
While the physical confines of the buildings remain, I believe that students should still be given the option to live with three people.
If a group of three wants to live together, they should be able to transform a larger double room into a triple. The decision of whether they could handle living together should be made by them.
As Bonaventure prepares to spend $7.5 million to improve Robinson, Falconio residence halls and Devereux Hall common spaces by fall 2014, there could be an opportunity to make dorm rooms more accommodating for groups of either two or three. Then, with more people living on campus, apartments which house six people could afford to reduce their occupancies to five if desired.
“Expanding options for housing will make some upperclassmen want to live on campus,” LoBello said. “Then Bonaventure could possibly house more students than before.”
If Bonaventure adds variety to housing options it will decrease housing drama and boost competitiveness with other schools. More possibilities can only help, and it seems that Bonaventure has the resources to make this change.
Lian Bunny is the assistant news editor for The Bona Venture. Her email is bunnyla13@bonaventure.edu
