The second floor of Doyle Hall remains empty this year despite Bonaventure’s plans to turn it into student housing for Jamestown Community College (JCC) commuters.
The vacant hall is not due to lack of interest, according to Kirk Young, vice president of enrollment at JCC.
“There was actually a lot of interest in the new opportunity,” said Young. “However, by the time we were able to finalize the agreement, we were quite late in the recruitment cycle and most of our prospective students had committed otherwise.”
The program gathered a lot of interest particularly from student athletes at JCC, said Young. However, many community college athletes don’t commit to a program until late in the summer, later than Bonaventure’s residence hall processes, according to Young. Had athletes committed to JCC earlier in the selection process, there would have potentially been nine JCC student-athletes interested in the Doyle residence program.
Young said the program would be particularly beneficial for JCC students, as there are limited housing options for commuting students.
“We just don’t have enough students at this time to merit the construction of our own residence hall; however, there are a number of students who do come to us with housing needs,” said Young.
The off-campus housing options for students at JCC are generally “variable,” according to Young, and often the college has little control over the housing process for its students.
According to Rick Trietley, vice president of student affairs at Bonaventure, the offer for JCC student housing on campus will remain open in the spring semester.
The university will provide a resident assistant for JCC students should any of them choose to move on-campus in the spring semester, according to Tom Missel, director of media relations and marketing at Bonaventure.
Bonaventure officials declined to comment further on the subject.
“Until JCC students take advantage of the opportunity, there’s little else to comment on at this time,” said Missel. “Of course, we’re hopeful that the agreement with JCC will bear some fruit eventually, for both institutions.”
mcelfrdh14@bonaventure.edu
