We Need Fox Hall Back
I am sure that all of us know about the fire that broke out in Fox Hall last semester. Some of us stood outside and watched as fire trucks and safety and security vehicles surrounded the building. St. Lawrence University students who were in Fox Hall at the time left their belongings behind, and I’m sure that many of them believed that it was just a drill. Luckily, no one was hurt in the fire, but I was still shocked and disappointed to hear about it and the building’s closing.
Fox Hall provided many services to students. It housed the Launders Science Library, Student Accessibility Services, the Higher Education Opportunity Program, and the offices of many academic advisors. I imagine that many of us miss the building and all it had to offer. As someone who benefited from the services provided by SAS and who enjoyed an occasional study session in the science library, I know that I certainly do. The building has been closed down since April, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to reopen any time soon.
Even though all of the services and offices in Fox Hall were relocated to a new location, there are some drawbacks to the new locations. For instance, many of the offices in Fox were relocated to Priest Hall, a first-year dorm. The location isn’t terrible, but walking to a dorm building to meet with an academic advisor is not ideal. However, I would say that the greatest drawback is the relocation of Student Accessibility Services to room 140A in Owen D. Young Library.
The SAS location in Fox included many individual testing rooms, ensuring that students could take their quizzes and exams without distractions. Each room had a computer and a whiteboard, which I always thought was cool. However, private rooms are no longer an option at the new location. Additionally, ODY is far away from many of the academic buildings, at least compared to Fox. Having the academic buildings close to SAS was convenient for circumstances in which a student needed to go back to the classroom after taking a quiz, or if a student needed to take their assessment to their professor after they finished. Fox Hall is conveniently located near Brown Hall, Flint Hall, Valentine Hall, Bewkes Hall, and Johnson Hall of Science. Although ODY is not a terrible distance from some of the academic buildings, such as Richardson Hall, Fox Hall is in a much better location.
Overall, I would say that SLU did a good job ensuring that SLU students could still access the services that were offered in Fox Hall. Even though the new locations are not perfect, there was not much else that the university could have done. I do still hope that these alternative locations are temporary and that Fox Hall will reopen sometime in the near future. I am sure that many of us have fond memories of the building, and I’m sure that I am not the only one who misses the science library.