Some resident students at Saint Xavier University are unhappy with changes that have been planned for the Pacelli residence hall. Residence Life recently issued a statement announcing that the lobby, kitchen, and lounge in Pacelli hall will be converted into office and computer spaces for the ELS students for the upcoming 2016 fall semester.
The SXU Resident Housing Association (RHA) created a petition which they hope will convince President Christine Wiseman to stop these changes from occurring. The petition explains why the Pacelli lobby, kitchen and lounge are important to students.
“The Pacelli Hall residents have greatly appreciated and valued the lobby, kitchen, and lounge spaces this past year. These areas have been influential in creating and strengthening the community environment,” the petition states. “Other than Regina Hall, there is not another community space of this size for students to gather together to create lasting memories.”
According to Katy Thompson, Associate Dean of Students and Director of Residence Life, the Academic Affairs office, the Provost’s office, and Student Affairs, worked with the Facilities Services and the Office of Records and advising to look at available locations to convert into computer and office spaces.
However, they were unable to identify any other areas that would accommodate the requirements of the ELS Program. The ELS is a program that provides English language training in the United States through learning centers in various college campuses.
“After consultation with their developers—on the ELS side—and our facility staff and everything, ultimately, the only places that we were able to identify that could accommodate what they were looking for in terms of office space and computer desk space for their students was in Pacelli,” said Thompson. “So, it was certainly something that the student affairs staff in particular, myself, and Eileen Doherty, the dean of students and our vice president for Student Affairs, John Pelrine looked at, really trying to look at all angles, were there any other possibilities that would not eliminate student gather space.”
About 60 students live in Pacelli, although these students are not the only ones who utilize the hall’s spaces. The RHA hosts many events in the Pacelli Lounge such as “Pilates in Pacelli” which is open to students from all residence halls.
The lounge also has a ping pong table, a big screen television, and a chess set. Thompson said that the importance of these spaces to resident students was taken into consideration while making the decision about where to create the ELS office and computer spaces.
“The lobby is not really a gathering space but it’s where the students eat and there’s study groups there. And then the lounge, there’s certainly a lot of activity; they’re playing Ping-Pong, we’ve got Pilates in Pacelli. So all of these things were going through our minds in terms of what could we do to not take that away from students,” Thompson said.
So far, the Resident Housing Association’s petition has garnered about 90 signatures. The petition was created on the RHA’s orgsync page and was emailed to all resident students. This week, the RHA also started a paper version of the petition.
Students who are interested in signing the petition can visit the RHA Orgsync page or email Maxine Bolden, President of RHA at bolden.m01@mymail.sxu.edu. The petition asked students to provide suggestions for alternative locations that can be used for the ELS computer and office spaces.
“There suggestions included using the current computer labs around school, specifically the computer labs near coffee cats. Other suggestions included using the Andrew Conference Center, while others suggested the student lounge or any computer lab in Warde. Finally, people suggested using computer carts within the halls that they will be staying such as Obrien or Rubloff,” said RHA treasurer Anna O’Hara.
Katy Thompson said that she is not surprised by the resident student’s negative reaction to changes planned for Pacelli Hall, but she believes the RHA handled their complaints appropriately.
“The Resident Housing Association were well within their jurisdiction as a student organization to bring their concerns forward. I think they’ve done it in an appropriate manner and they’re doing what they can to make sure their voice is heard,” she said. Besides creating the petition, the RHA also hosted a protest to bring more attention to the issue.
Yasmeen Abdellatif
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