From new residence halls to new sports teams, Seton Hill has been alive with change in this past year. With the inaugural season of football, the freshman class for 2005-2006 saw an increase of incoming freshman men. This caused the Office of Residence Life to make the freshman residence halls co-ed for the first time.
With another school year to start in August, the freshman residence halls will change back to putting women in Brownlee Hall and men in Havey Hall.
By Rachel Prichard,
Staff Writer
From new residence halls to new sports teams, Seton Hill has been alive with change in this past year. With the inaugural season of football, the freshman class for 2005-2006 saw an increase of incoming freshman men. This caused the Office of Residence Life to make the freshman residence halls co-ed for the first time.
With another school year to start in August, the freshman residence halls will change back to putting women in Brownlee Hall and men in Havey Hall.
When asked about the change in the residence halls Robin Anke, director of residence life said, �With the numbers that are coming in we will be able to house all the freshman male in a building and all the freshman female in a building and they�ll both fit in their perspective buildings.�
Havey Hall houses approximately 120 people and Brownlee Hall houses approximately 160 people. The freshman residence halls were co-ed this past year because the number of incoming freshman did not fit these building requirements. �This is why we did co-ed this year because the numbers did not fit last year,� Anke said, �There were more incoming freshman men last year than there were women. They wouldn’tall fit in Havey because there were more than 120, but there were fewer than 160. So I had to switch the floors up because if I would have housed all the males in Brownlee (Hall), then there wouldn’tbe enough room for the females in Havey (Hall).�
This year, the numbers will match up correctly for the freshman residence halls. When the women and men split up again, visitation policies will not change.
Anke said, �The Visitation Policy will not be changing for next year.�
This means resident students can visit any other resident student at any time. After hours residents must still be signed in and have an escort with at all times.
With the growth of athletic teams and enrollment, there is the question of whether or not SHU is going to have problems housing students in years to come.
�I don’tthink there will be any problems because right now, with the number of students that we had coming in this current year, we housed everyone with only half of De Chantal Hall being up and ready,� said Anke. �Now all of De Chantal is ready, and we have more bed spaces that are empty because we didn’tneed them.�
With the increase in numbers in the school’s retention rate, these spaces will be used but SHU will not outgrow them for a few years.
According to Anke, there have not been any problems with the co-ed living in the freshman residence halls. The freshmen who are now living in Havey and Brownlee Halls seem to enjoy living with males and female together.
�It cuts down on the drama living with more guys than girls,� said freshman, Reigh Steban who lives in Havey Hall. �It was also easier to get help with homework from guys. They are in your class just as much as girls are, but they live in the same building. You don’thave to go across a parking lot to get help.�
A freshman, Justin Meenan also lives in Havey Hall.
Meenan has a different experience than most freshman men because he actually lives on a female floor. He shares a three-room suite, which includes a full bathroom, with two other freshman men.
�The only bad thing about living on a girls floor is that you hear the girls complain about their problems a lot,� said Meenan.
Residence life does not see any problems in the near future with housing students on campus and hopes that the numbers continue to steadily grow.
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