The floodlight brightly illuminates the face of Cassandra DePinto ’09 as her head crashes onto the white pillow. As she closes her eyes, the words “get down girl, go head, get down” emanate loudly from the shower radio across the hall.
Instead of counting sheep, three thoughts run through DePinto’s mind: Stupid cellophane curtains! Is there a Kayne West concert in the bathroom? I don’t want to live here again next year!
On Tuesday Feb. 28, the university announced that in the next academic year, Jogues Hall will be designated as an all-sophomore dorm, while Gonzaga will be shared by the incoming freshman class and the rising sophomore class.
Many students like DePinto, a current Jogues Hall resident, are unhappy over the announcement and possibility of having to live in the same residence hall two years in a row.
“Of all the people that I’ve talked to, there is a sense of discontent about having to live in Jogues for another year,” said DePinto. “I believe that many rising sophomores were looking forward to a better housing situation next year, and for some, it might be a downgrade.”
Dean of Students Thomas Pellegrino said the goal is to find the best balance between the efficiency of space used and student comfort.
“[The switch] will be done so that if we do need to triple next year, we can take advantage of the larger rooms in Gonzaga, should that become necessary,” said Pellegrino. “Our dual goal is to provide the best living space for students, in a manner consistent with existing college residential standards.”
A petition was created by Catarina Maia ’09 with a mission of keeping Jogues a freshman hall and to give its current residents a preference in housing. The petition surveyed only Jogues residents, excluding resident assistants, garnering a total of 205 signatures with only 13 rooms unsigned.
However, Pellegrino said in the campus announcement that giving preference for housing towards the current residents of Jogues would be unfair, as they do not treat each building with a “greater or lesser value to any residence hall, including when it comes time apportioning spaces at the time of lottery.”
Gary Stephenson, director of residence life and housing, also believes in the importance of dormitory logistics as taking precedence over a student not wanting to live in the same building two years in a row.
“We don’t really differentiate a bed from a bed,” said Stephenson. “In the office model, a bed in Jogues is equal to a bed in Gonzaga is equal to a bed in Regis. We just really try hard to keep the lottery pure, and it’s random, it’s based on how folks want to live together rather than location.”
Currently, Jogues Hall is the home to 312 students, 122 males and 190 females. Of those residents, 90 males and 105 females are in temporary triples. Effectively, there are a total of 65 triples in the building. Concurrently, Gonzaga houses 234 students, 103 males and 131 females, with only a handful of triples.
Stephenson said the plan is to make Jogues an all-sophomore dorm while splitting Gonzaga into thirds: one floor in Gonzaga will be a mixture of freshmen and sophomore women studying in the fields of Mathematics and Science, one floor will be all-male freshmen, and the last floor will be all-female freshmen. He also says there are proposed plans on making Campion an all-freshmen dorm.
Pending financial approval, Stephenson said he wants to install the same furniture in all the dormitory halls within the quad this summer.
“A budget request was made to do that but I haven’t seen the results of the committee’s approvals yet,” said Stephenson. “But we want to put into the quad the same type of furniture that has been well-received in Gonzaga and Regis.”
Until the fall semester, Stephenson said Jogues Hall had been an all-freshmen and Gonzaga, an all-sophomore dorm, since the 2001 academic year.
Rising sophomores who do not currently reside in Jogues are not too worried about having that building as an option during the lottery.
“If we don’t get into Ignation, I wouldn’t mind Jogues because my two other friends and I want to room together,” said Christine Papazicos ’09. “Jogues has the nice corner rooms that can fit three people nicely.”
Although the priority deadline for applications has passed, the Ignation Residential College is still taking applications with their lottery taking place at the end of March. Meanwhile, the general housing pick night for the rising sophomores will be held on the nights of April 19th for the men and April 20th for the women, both at 6 p.m.
An advantage of living in Jogues over Gonzaga would be the proximity to the student parking lot, as Gonzaga residents are technically not allowed to park in the faculty lot adjacent to Canisius Hall. However, students like Alissa Mebus ’09 are would rather place importance in the location of the building itself over parking.
“While having your car parked outside your dorm is convenient, I would be spending more time in my dorm than I would be using my car,” said Mebus. “Therefore, I would rather have better living quarters and wouldn’t mind so much to walk in the cold to my car.”
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