This past week Saint Anselm College made a major announce
ment in regard to one of the pressing issues impacting the
college community. With the increasing student population,
Saint Anselm College decided to gut out Joseph Hall and turn it
into housing. Prior to being the core building for business and
history offices, the hall itself was a dorm and also served as the
monastery for a time.
This move came as the largest class entered the college in the
class of 2028, and with a potentially just as big of a class in the
incoming class of 2029. In light of the renovations, the history
and business department offices will be moved to Gadbois Hall
and so will all classes that run out of Joseph.
One element the College wasn’t necessarily clear about is
the fate of the Bloomberg lab in Joseph Hall. The lab cost Saint
Anselm a considerable amount of money so there has to be some
solution to what the fate of the lab is. The most logical solution
to this dilemma is to move the lab and the equipment into
Gadbois where the rest of the business classes and offices will be.
Regardless of whether or not there is a solution to this
problem, it should be made clear to the students, who pay the
college thousands of dollars to attend.

There has also been vast student outcry over the recent announcements. One big quarrel students have is in regards toapartments. It was made known that pretty much all apartments
will have to have 5 people living in them. This decision is quite
frankly ridiculous.

This decision also creates problems within groups who were
planning to just go for an apartment of 4. What is also baffling is
that the college decided to announce this element of the housing news a mere days before housing deposits are due. Changes like that can very easily change an
individual’s mind about housing
I would love to know the thought process behind this part of the housing announcements. Why
say this now when most if not all students who are going into the housing lottery have already
given the college another $300 on top of their other payments like tuition bills, student loan
payments etc. Residential life should have put a little more thought in this announcement in terms
of timelines of payment dates. While there is a clear disconnect in communication to students, the
overall news of Joseph Hall becoming housing makes sense when you really start to think about it.
Between the other options the college potentially had this was possibly the least harmful solution.
If they turned Gadbois into housing they would not have had enough time for the fall.
Joseph once served as dorms and as the monastery for a time, it has most facilities needed
already. The other lens is the college population. Many predict a demographic cliff hitting most
colleges in the class of 2030.
If there is one, this solves the short term large population. And if we don’t get hit by it, we have a
long term solution in Joseph Hall. While controversial, the decision to turn Joseph Hall into dorms
is not the worst idea in the world given it can both be a short term and also a long term solution
depending on what happens with the looming demographic cliff.