The Aquinas 1999-09-16

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Unive~i~i~bi-¢~k,.s ,grourid fo:r_ Brennan· Hall
By ELIZABETH MURPHY < ,_ rriad~'up'~ntlrely ·of windows. the building will he a U.niversity The budget for the building completion by the fall of 2000.
So far constrm;tion has gone on
schedule.
Aquinas Staff Writer-.:. -· .:The ~KSOM advising cent~r reso~rce. University groups, cor-.· exceeds $12 milli.on. It is being . . .· .. will 'be located on the tirst floor porations, . public organizations funded by· The Campaign for
On Saturday, -- June:··: 12,: f~r ~~sy s~uden(access. and other groups will be wei- · Scranton. Presently, builders are at
Uniyersity officials broke . · ·An· auditorium, a feature that· co-me to make use of.the facili- Alumnus John E. Brennan, _,. work on the foundation.
:ground for Brennan Hall, ·the -·has be~n added to the plans since ties, including meeting rooms, 'a -'68, after whom the building is
. new home for the Kania' School · grou~dbrea!dng, will be located reception area, and a large multi- named, gave $3 million toward
of-Management (KSOM). ·. ·olune second floor. The audita- purpose room that can be used the project. Another $1 million is
Brennan ·Hall· will -be .located · . riufn' sJiould. seat about. 140. peo- fqr meal functions that seat up to being used from a $4 million gift
on the 300 block of Madison · ple.:·-There ~ill also be. a ·quiet 140 people. The.re will be a from Arthur J.'Kania, '53.
During digging; builders were
pleased to find that the building
is being built on solid ground
and no mineshafts were discov-ered.
Ave., cover_ 65,000 square feet'· study room.located in this area. cat~ring kitchen included for that "The faith they have shown in
and stand five stori~s_ high.· · The' third and fourth floors purpose. The Executive Center is the college provides a real_incen-
The ·first four. floors ·will ;i'll· libuse the· faculty offices, designed to serve as a link to the tive for us to try to be creative
Discovering mineshafts is
common in the Scranton area.
·•It is .a marvelous opportunity
f?r us as a college and the impact
it can have as we recruit new stu.
dents," Johnso!l stated.
house the academic section for departmental offices, th.e dean's community. -and innovative," Johnson com-the
School of Man~gerrient. T,he · office· imd conference r'ooms. Thmughout · the building, mented.
tirst and second floors-will-have ·There will be a behavioral lab for rooms will be equipped wiltt the The· building is scheduled for
a total of nine classrooms; tt.io o( teaching a~d researc!'t purposes, · latest technology. .
which will· be computer clasS-' meetfrig'.and storage places for Full audio/visual capabilities ' .,.
rooms, with the other two. being. clubs and an. MBA lounge. that 'in cl~ssrooms, video teleconfer- . ··', ._, .
tiered classrooms. will. include locker space for· encing and individual -laptop
Ali ofthed~ssro.om's w.ilffea-. llla~ter's' qegree students. connections will be available.
ture teaching stations that ~ifi Ovenill, the building has been Louis Bravman,_ adjunct pro-inClude-
a computer-~nd a.tou~h desi'gned with students and fac- fessor of management .and marscreen-
that will enable the pro-· ulty'·irt mind. keting, commented, "The new
fessor.to control aspects_ such as' Ronald p. Johnson, D.B.A., . facility will provide opportuni-
. the lightin·g in the roo~. ·dean of the School .of Manage- ti.es for teachers and students that
_Windowless classrooms will ment; ·said~ '~The positive feature are greater than what the
provide·better lighting·control. oftfie·new building is ~hat it will University no~ has, and will
The hallways and public now. provide. us with facilities permit the Kania School to reach
spaces have been designed ·to whose quality match that of the out to p'rovide more services to
feature as !Duch naturaUighi: as . faculty." · · the Northeastern Pennsylvani;t
possible;· and· mu_ch of the_ first. The fifth floor will house the business community than are
- and second: floor walls will be · Executive Center . .This part of now possible."
Aquinas Photo/Klf'!STEN .ECHELMEIRER
Construction begins on Brennan Hall, the new home of the Kania
School of Management. Construction should be completed next year.
Freshman· class fills dormitories past capacity
By JOSEPH SCHROEpER Scott, a fresnman from Tunkhann~ck. that bad.
Aquinas- Correspondent · Scott added, "You can't just walk ovef -"1 personally enjoy living in a triple.
to the dorm next to you because there isn't My floor in.Lavis is mo~e close-knit than
As another school year opens, the issue one." . I expected. -1 mean. we even have our own
of overcrowding has -resurfaced once "Also," she continued, ••Leahy's way website," said Brad Trettien, a freshman
again._ . . off campus, ·and that makes it a lot harder from Garden City, N.Y.
" Fitting incoming freshmen into avail- .for the- freshmen to get involved because .It's like being in our own little com-able
dorm space has -been a recurring they are naturally more isolated." munity,".he added. ·
University problem. .Jennifer Shen, .,!1!!!!!!!1 "Everyone is just
· The University tested many. strategies a ·freshman from ~ so much cooler
and came up with t~o solutions for the' Midland Park, 'I personally enjoy living in about the whole
1999-2000-school year .. ' . N!. ~laborated. a triple .. My floor in Lavis setup than I expect-
The Residence Life Committee decid- "It really is ed;~ Trettien contin-ed
to make the rooms in the rrrst floor of kind- of sad. is more close-knit than I ued.
Lavis- triples, and place other freshm~n in · There are some expected. " Jen Kovaleski, a
doubles in Leahy Hall. kids who come a Brad Trettien freshman from ~an-
Obviously, these placement options ·long way, and it Freshman ticoke, and a resi-
.were going to ca~se som~ kind of cont~-:- · isn't fair for them dent of Leahy Hall,
versy. . to live in a room . felt comfortable wi-
. Even now, three weeks into t!te_ school that was-converted from a bpiler room."
year, -some freshmen have -~lready trans- · . : She continued, "~orne of the rooms
ferred out of Leahy Hail. look like dungeons in Nevils because
Ther:e have already. been positive and they're not supposed to be_ rooms in the
negative reactions to these setups by first place.· - .
freshmen, . ·sophomore leaders,. and' resi- :''I dori 't think it's fair because we ·au
. dent assistants (R.A.s). · pay the same money .to come here. and
The reactions do no~ favor either side.' some.of us are forced to live in unsuitable
"It's not the greatest situation; because c'?nditions.'' Shen concluded.
if you don't .. iike. your _roommate and .: Some ofthe students who actually live
you're all the way down in Leahy. there's · i~_:Leahy and Lavis gave the impression
~w.h~r~ f~r _y~u to go,". stated Melissa tlijlt the living· conditions are really not
th the housing situation.
"It really doesn't bother me that
much," she said. "My roommate . and I
·have a very tight relationship; so far
we're really good friends." Kovaleski
added, '.'The Joom is also incredibly
huge."
She sees, however. how some· people
could be ~ncomfortable.
"The walk to Class and activities is way
too far •. and to , walk home at .night is
incredibly scary.' You're always ·walking
home alone because no one else lives with
you."
She continued, "Unfortunately, being
almost next to Courthouse Square, there's
a lot of noise during the night. Sirens,
garbage trucks and tire engines wake me
up·every night."
She concluded, "If you are the incredibly
shy type of perSO!J, it's going to be
very hard for you to make friends all the
way down in Leahy."
A Resident Assistant observed that,
despite the fact that the Admissions
Office staff had been asked by the
Residence Life staff to not admit any
more students, the students were accepted.
The RA stated that o~er 900 students
were accepted to The University, although
freshman dorm capacity is only 864.
·The RA commented that living in
Leahy would .have to ~ a terrible experience
as a. freshman, especially considering
typical Leahy residents are senior
Physical and Occupational Therapy·
majors.
The RA said that even as an upperclassman
.he ·would not like to live in
. Leahy .. The .RA noted that having fresh-·
men and upperclassmen. to~her:in Leahy
would be an odd mix.