New residence hall to open on the hill this fall

05/09/05

By Andrea Perkins,
Staff Writer

At the end of March 2005, work began on the new residence hall behind Brownlee and Farrell Hall at Seton Hill University (SHU) that will house only upper-class students.

During room lotteries for the Fall 2005 semester, students were already scheduled to move into the new building at the end of August. Like Farrell Hall and the Katherine Mabis McKenna Center, the new dorm is being built by Building Systems Incorporated (BSI).

The new residence hall is similar in format to Farrell Hall. However, there are many differences. The new dorm is two floors and will have 144 beds, and Farrell is three floors and has 114 beds.

The new dormitory will have, as many students found out during the room lotteries, more doubles and fewer singles. This means that a four person suite will consist of two doubles, not two singles and one double as in Farrell Hall. A six person suite will be three doubles, and not two doubles and two singles.

According to Robin Illsley, associate dean of students and director of residence life, “There will be very few singles available. It will still have the living room and the bathroom, but it equalizes the financial cost with two doubles.”

According to Illsley, The Office of Residence Life expects that the new residence hall will be up the day before classes start, which is Sunday, August 28, 2005. All the deadlines for the furniture have been sent to the vendors who supply them. As for the furniture and room colors, the furniture will be different from that in Farrell Hall.

“We are bringing some sofas and chairs on campus for students to assist us in choosing the furniture,” said Illsley. She also said that eventually the furniture in Farrell will be changed as well.
The Residence Life staff has not met yet to choose the paints and carpet colors. Surveys taken by the students who moved into Farrell at the start of this year will be taken into account when choosing furnishings for the new dorm.

Any damages in Farrell Hall, of course, will be fixed for the new school year. “Any damage that we don’t know about, we can’t fix. Whatever the structural damage is, we need to know about it,” said Illsley.

Everything placed in the new buildings needs to meet fire codes, which includes the mattresses and the curtains on the windows.
The same amenities, such as coat racks and the furniture will still be supplied in Farrell for next year. There will be a laundry and kitchen areas in the new residence hall. Currently, there is no name for the new dorm.

The staff anticipates the new hall to open. “I think it’s exciting to have so much growth on such a small campus. I think the university is paying close attention to the students’ needs,” said Illsley.
The students are also eager for the new dorm.

Sophomore RTA Brian Blasko will be a resident assistant in the new dorm next year. “I think it give the upperclassmen a chance to have a good time under my supervision...we’ll have a good time,” he said. There are many students who do not believe the dorm will be open in time, but think it will be worth the wait.

Freshman Beth Zapola said, “I think we [my roommates and I are] going to be in trouble. However, I heard the new dorm’s supposed to be awesome, so that should make up for it.” The new dorm will definitely allow for more students to see the rest of the Hill and the scenery behind Brownlee and Farrell Halls.

“It kind of isolates you more, you see your own roommates instead of the whole building, and this kind of takes away from the community atmosphere, but you see more of the whole campus,” said Blasko.
“It better be worth the wait,” Zapola said.

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Posted by Setonian Online at May 9, 2005 08:09 AM