St. Bonaventure offers several different housing options that each have their own pros and cons for the students living on campus. Some offer the benefit of being close to the Hickey Dining Hall and academic buildings, while others allow students to have their own kitchen and single rooms in an apartment setting. A housing option that is somewhere in between is Francis Hall.
After several years of only housing graduate students, Francis Hall was opened to undergraduates. The building is between the Garden Apartments and the Townhouses, and is the only dormitory on campus with its own dining hall. All the rooms within Francis Hall are single rooms, and are open to sophomores through seniors, with the second and fourth floors being single gender and the third floor being mixed gender.
This past summer consisted of a bit of a face lift for Francis to prepare for students to move in. One of the most significant aspects of this mini renovation was removing asbestos from the living areas and repainting. The Francis dining hall has also had an increase in operating hours, and meal exchange hours, to allow the residents of the building easier access to food options on that side of campus.
There have been mixed feelings from students living in the building. Many of the female residents on the third floor have found the bathroom setup inconvenient.
Junior behavioral neuroscience major Morgan DeGearo said, “…there is only one girls bathroom on my floor which only has one sink and is across the floor from my room.”
However, dissatisfaction with the bathroom situation is not limited to the female residents.
Sophomore biochemistry major Nathaniel McClure said, “Francis bathrooms are another difficult thing to accommodate to as the male bathroom at my end of the hall underwent maintenance, and we are now missing our urinals in the bathroom.”
While it is difficult to expect perfect working order in a building that has not been frequently updated over several years, there is a certain assumption that the most will be done to make the students comfortable for the price of housing.
“The showers in the bathrooms have no continuous hot water supply and this is hard for mself and others who are always cold. However, the room size and quality of the room are very content for living in a single room. The location is nice with the new hours for Francis [Dining] Hall being more available for students living in the dorm,” said McClure.
Francis Hall has a bit of a ways to go before being on par with the convenience and modernity of other housing options on campus, but residents have still been able to enjoy the perks it does offer.
DeGearo pointed out, “Living in Francis is not as bad as I was expecting. It’s not a far walk to my friends in the townhouses and I don’t always have to leave the building to eat…”
Junior professional and creative writing major Kaylyn Foody said, “The one thing I will say about Francis is that it’s quiet, which is nice to get work done. The quiet really helps me while studying and such.”
Francis Hall provides a new opportunity for students who wish to live more independent of campus or who want the option for a single room. It also has the potential benefit for those who may be in the School of Health Professions to simply walk downstairs to attend their classes and labs. The reopening of Francis is yet another unique housing opportunity for St. Bonaventure students.
By Faith Topolski, Staff Writer
topolsfl17@bonaventure.edu
