Students must walk through street or grass to reach Doyle Hall
Heading into senior year, I’ve come to love nearly everything about St. Bonaventure University. Hickey bumming, making the long walk to Francis for dinner and the morning fog that means it’s going to be a beautiful day are all things that make Bona’s special.
While I’ve come to find comfort in the good and bad parts of this place, there is one specific change that I need to see.
The single most frustrating thing that I watch people do is walk across the grass. Bona’s is covered in sidewalks, and yet I see people every single day walking across the grass to save, what, three seconds of time? If I find myself rushing somewhere, like from class straight to practice, I might cut across the grass in front of Plassmann to get to the Reilly Center quicker, but people do it constantly all over campus.
For most places on campus, there are sidewalks connecting all the buildings, so walking across the grass is unnecessary. However, one spot there is no sidewalk for people to utilize: walking from Falconio to Doyle.
Walking from the academic buildings to Doyle, while following sidewalks and crosswalks, there is no direct route to get to Doyle. In addition, looking past Doyle, there is no great way to get to the East Side of campus from that part of campus either. If a sidewalk were to be installed by the north wing of Falconio and connect to the sidewalk by Doyle, this problem could be resolved.
Currently, the lack of sidewalk means students have to walk through the grass to get to the sidewalk by Doyle. This ruins the grass in that area. In the winter, it is not uncommon to see paths through the snow. And in the rain, forget about walking through the grass in that spot, unless you want to get your shoes muddy from the tons of puddles.
For residents living in Robinson and Falconio, Sunday morning Mass means having to look both ways before walking through the Rob-Fal circle to get to the sidewalk that leads to the University Chapel. That is, of course, if they use the sidewalks. They could cut through the grass, but again, it might be wet, muddy or snowy, and who wants to get their shoes dirty before going to Mass?
While there are some bigger problems the campus has, like the Wi-Fi being spotty (like in the Hickey Dining Hall, for example) or a major lack of 24/7 study space on campus, my biggest gripe is a 20-foot stretch of grass that could be greatly improved with the addition of a sidewalk.
With triple rooms in Doyle, there are more residents than ever living in the building, and there needs to be better access that doesn’t involve walking across the grass.
