With the approaching housing lottery students are apt to want to know which buildings will be the most updated and taken care of for next year.

According to Bill Furlong, Director of Facilities, Courts will be one of the areas St. A’s focuses on over the summer.

Through renovations to the exterior of the buildings, such as vinyl siding and new shutters, the college is working to fix those buildings that are in much need of repair.

However, while the college is doing a good job of focusing on the outside look of the buildings, not much is being done about the problems inside such as lack of laundry facilities and plumbing issues.

While credit must go to the school for finally getting work done on the look of buildings other than the New Hall, it’s also necessary to suggest that perhaps the school should take into consideration what the students would like to see fixed in their residences.

While making sure Saint Anselm’s grounds look presentable to both students and the public is crucial, it also shows the school’s focus is on how it looks to prospective students rather than keeping its current students happy.

Although it is important to focus on garnering new students, it is also important to take care of the needs of students without whom the college would be no more than some pretty looking buildings.

According to Jenny Farrar, a junior living in Raphael Hall, “I was never aware that the school even had plans to work on the buildings in Courts. I’ve lived here all year and there are definitely some things that the school should consider updating before new residents move in next year”.

Despite student’s appreciation of updates to their buildings, what would be more appreciated would be the school allowing students to have an active voice in what happens to the halls they live in.

More importantly, the school’s lack of communication with students about problems and renovations has made for a build-up of tension between students and Residential Life and Facilities staff who are trying their best to fix as many issues as possible.

Ultimately, for renovations, such as those to the Courts area, to have the fullest effect there needs to be more open communication of the needs of the school and the needs of students.