Next year, one room in each of the Steiner Senior Townhouses will be converted to a double so that 24 more seniors can live in each townhouse. The townhouses, which opened in 2003, were originally designed for five students. According to Assistant Dean and Director of Residence Life Matha Thornton, one of the primary reasons for the change was to make living in the townhouses more affordable for students. In the past, the single room fee of $1,150 has applied to all single rooms in the townhouses, but this fee will not apply to the double rooms. This change will enable 24 seniors who might not otherwise have been able to afford to pay the single room fee to live in the townhouses. In past years, Residence Life has received feedback from individuals who couldn’t afford to live in the townhouses but wanted to, and, as Thornton said, “It’s good to give 24 more students the opportunity to live there.”
For underclass students, and especially for incoming first-year students, these changes in senior residence arrangements will mean that some of their rooms will be converted back into lounges and common areas. Many of the residence halls on campus lost the common spaces that students need, especially in the first-year colleges where students work closely with their classmates in and out of class and use lounges to work together and get to know one another. Thornton, who is also in charge of the residential life part of the First-Year Program said, “We’re doing everything we can do to give lounges back to the FYPs.”
Some students felt that adding another resident to the townhouses was a way for the university to save money. However, with the additional changes to student residences and spending money to furnish the townhouses, St. Lawrence will most likely be spending money. Thornton said, “It was never a question of saving money, but of providing more opportunities to students.” Apart from adding additional furniture to the converted first-floor rooms, there will be no significant changes to the townhouses. In addition to the five bedrooms, each townhouse currently includes two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. Laundry facilities are shared among each grouping of townhouses.
Concerns have also been voiced about the structural soundness of the townhouses as a potential problem, and that damage rates will escalate with more students in residence there. However, changes in the selection process over the last few years has ensured that only responsible, well-qualified rising seniors with excellent track records at the university will be eligible to live in the townhouses. With the addition of a sixth person in each townhouse, Residence Life hopes that more seniors will become eligible to live in the self-goverened area.
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