The Truth about BC’s Boys’ Dorms

Editor’s Note: Bluefield College junior Aynae Simmons shares her thoughts about the condition of BC’s men’s residence halls.

There’s a lot of false advertisement going on between prospective students and this campus, especially with males.

When they come on Bluefield’s campus, the future students are given a tour that takes them throughout Bluefield College. The problem with this tour is that students are only shown the highlights of this campus: Bluestone Commons, third floor Science Center, and parts of Lansdell Hall. Oh, but don’t worry because the SAC will be at the top of the touring list. But, the one that probably sells them the most is East River.

Boys are shown a girl’s dorm that they may never set foot it unless it’s for visitation, and there’s a showroom that all prospective students are shown. Now, I get showing it to girls because that’s where they’re going to live. But boys? That’s misleading.

Boys need to be shown where they’re going to live. So, that means to show them Rish, Cruise, and Alumni. If it’s too embarrassing to show, then that should tell you something about the buildings.

The boys’ dorms (Cruise, Rish, and Alumni) are probably the worst of the buildings on campus. A friend of mine said it’s, “a cleaner version of a jail cell.” So there’s that. You have Alumni, which looks like (and probably was) an abandoned motel. From what I know, there’s no A/C — just (over) heating. So, is it possible for residence life to start by putting A/C units in the dorms so boys can at least be comfortable all school year?

Now, take a look at their bathrooms, and there is so much mold and mildew. They think that the tiles should be black, yet with all of this uncleanliness, that’s going untouched. So, what happens in the summer while traditional students are away? I don’t think anyone cleans it because if they did, these wouldn’t be the problems we would be having.

There’s so much to unpack about the boys’ dorms that it would take up at least three pages. There needs to be some real in-depth conversation and money management about renovating their dorms. Maybe instead of renovating the SAC, they could’ve put some money toward A/C units or professionally cleaning Cruise, Rish, and Alumni.