By Julia Mericle
Staff Writer
On Tuesday, Bill Greeley, associate vice president of Canon Design, and his colleague, Ike Lowery, presented some of the designs for future construction at St. Bonaventure University at the Student Government Association (SGA) meeting.
They presented advanced plans for the Robinson and Falconio Hall renovations. They said the designs for the residence halls are meant to mirror designs of other university buildings.
The structural links between buildings is made possible because Canon Design designed several buildings on campus already, including the newly added William E. and Ann L. Swan Business Center making the feeling of the buildings flow together.
Rick Trietley, vice president for student affairs, explained one of the most critical changes being made is the plan to have card access to the two residence halls. However, students will still need keys to open their rooms.
Freshman journalism and mass communication major Elyse Breeze raised the question as to whether card access to the new first floor lounges will be granted to all students or be exclusive to Robinson and Falconio Hall residents.
“I think that would be kind of nice,” Breeze said, “I’m going to be a sophomore next year, so I’m thinking I just missed it.”
Greeley said card access to the residence halls has yet to be determined for the renovations.
Greeley and Lowery discussed the design concept of carpeting the corridors and insulating the walls of Robinson and Falconio Halls to decrease the amount of sound transfer from room to room. They also noted carpeting would give the dormitories a less institutional feel.
A topic that prompted much discussion at the meeting was the proposal of adding a chalkboard wall to each first floor lounge. Several students voiced concerns regarding allergies to dust and monitoring what gets written or drawn on chalkboard walls. Greeley and Lowery said they would take these concerns into account while finalizing the plans.
Next, the SGA welcomed freshman journalism and mass communication major Dakota Ward to speak about the “Laugh Pack,” a new campus comedy club.
The club, which plans to write and perform a mixture of improv and sketch comedy, is seeking members to participate.
Ward noted the strong support students have shown through their willingness to be part of the audience, but there is a lack of students willing join in the show.
“We really want to get the campus involved,” Ward said. “Crowd participation is a huge thing in comedy.”
The club’s goal for next year is to host bi-weekly events. They also plan to attract more writers and filmmakers to their organization and maintain an active YouTube channel.
The club is currently preparing to perform on Friday, April 11 in the Rathskeller.
Finally, the SGA invited Yvonne Makl, coordinator of the Damietta Center, to present information on safe zones. Safe zones are educational areas where harassment against LGBTQ+ students is not tolerated.
In March 2014, a small group of students, faculty, and staff attended a safe zone training program in Rochester, N.Y.
“We found ourselves deeply immersed in nonstop interaction regarding education and exercises about LGBTQ+ knowledge,” Makl said.
Freshman journalism and mass communication major David Bryant spoke about what the group learned at the program, including acceptable ways to address people.
According to Bryant, there are not general ways to address people, but the way individuals identify themselves is the way that others should address that person.
Beginning next semester, those who attended the program plan to implement the safe-zone training on campus and make it available for everyone. Bryant explained the goal is to make the entire St. Bonaventure campus a safe zone.
“St. Bonaventure prides itself in the idea of ‘thisness,’ so it is time to incorporate LGBTQ+ into that as well,” Bryant said.
mericlje13@bonaventure.edu
