Nicholls State University - La Pirogue Yearbook (Thibodaux, LA)

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john Reilly engages in some tricks with the cam- era as he photographs himself in his Long Hall dorm room. SQDIME Z5 ECI HT 0 ME legislature preventing the construction of new dorms will not help the situa- tion. However, married students, who make up 29 percent of Nicholls' student body will be offered some relief by Sep- tember, 1978. At that time, construction should be finished on a S650,000, 40- family housing unit on campus. When Charles Roemer, executive assistant to Governor Edwin Edwards, came for the official groundbreaking, the first step was taken towards solving at least part of Nicholls housing prob- lems. For other students, it still looks like a long wait. You can't even die to get into the hospital. cont. With the help of dictionaries, roommates Cristina Hernandez and Mary Pennington work out their language problems. Hernandez is a nursing major from Medellin, Colombia, and Pennington is an education major from Gretna. it E5 it in I Wt T i . 3 E ' ':k'iMu'-- f, ,. ta 1 pw! if , mf-.ww..!nuiw1A af, 'A-Hf

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said that she and a friend climbed the fence to prove it could be done. Other freshmen, like Patricia Guidry of Norco, claimed that they felt more secure after the fence was in place. But dorm life was different, regard- less. Mary Pennington, a special educa- tion sophomore, learned that she was getting a freshman roommate, from Medellin, Colombia. Isabel Hernandez, a nursing major, came on a tennis scholarship and found an immediate way to communicate with Pennington: with a dictionary. We talked for two hours once, and didn't say too much, Pennington said. Adapting to a dorm meant elevators which might not work lwhen you're already late for classj, prank fire alarms at 2 a.m., or lost keys. The annual complaints did come about the seven-day mandatory meal ticket. Susan Brown, a vocal music jun- ior who traveled home to I-Iouma each weekend, lost six meals she had already paid for each weekend. While cafeteria food has never been the main attraction of living on campus, manager Bill Bryant attempted to liven up his products by working with the student government food services com- mittee and posting a suggestion box for ideas. The suggestion box had to be taken down later, after numerous let- ters Bryant described as obscene were submitted. An outdoor barbeque, special nights, with foreign foods, and a steak raffle during the summer were some of the approaches used. By mid-Iuly, the housing office already had a waiting list of students for rooms, with another tight year pre- dicted. Inflation and rising fuel costs passed on in utilities have made the cost equal for a student living on or off campus. A state-moratorium declared by the Nana Gerrets of Gretna lugs arm loads of clothes to her room in moving-in day in the fall. Coed activities, like volleyball in front of Meade Hall. make life easier and perhaps more enjoya- ble for summer dorm residents. x, V 0 X sink ,UNOU T..- The daily routine of eating in the cafeteria is brightened by a barbeque for dorm residents, such as this one held in the spring. i 4 l -Q Pcnningt Q- H,sxl-M.,w . ,xx .-f -' I If I W 'lf iw t l , 5 t 1...-.A I 'T.,t...,.,4 1 -' n'wt..l,N Y ' t Dorm Life 2

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You mean this is the dorm? by Iames deGraauw A dorm with wall-to-wall carpeting, central air conditioning and heating, plus, being off-campus . . . seem like a nice place to live? Well, that didn't exactly seem to be the case with some entering freshmen as they first saw the St. Ioseph Dorm, and yelled obscenities, and coma ments like, You gotta be kidding! You mean this is the dorm? Phrases like this, and some a lot worse, were heard being screamed throughout the first week of registration during the spring semester. Because of the overcrowded conditions in the dorms on campus, the nurses' quarters at the old St. joseph Hospital on La. 1 had been converted to dormitory space for male students in the fall. The hospital personnel had moved to the new Thibodaux General Hospital behind the campus and the old facilities were not being used. The St. Ioseph accommodations were first used in the fall when students were glad to have a room of any nature and did not complain about the dis- tinctive hospital smell that accompanied their rooms. Mixed feelings then emerged about living in the St. Ioseph Dorm. Some of the men polled said they would rather live there than anywhere else on campus, while others were willing to trade for a room in one of the other men's dorms. Some men fand some women, too, it was rumoredl signed up for a second semester after living there in the fall. However, in the final count, only 7 of the original 17 men in the dorm elected to return for a second semester. Dorm director Rob- ert DeFelice was one of those. These seven, assured by the administration the dorm would again be open for the spring, were also told they would be getting single rooms. Returning for the spring, they found out, to their horror, that some rooms for large closetsj were to be occupied by as many as four men. This over- crowding never did materialize, however, partly because some freshmen, after seeing the dorm, yelled obscenities and then disappeared. The most disappointed dorm residents. after hearing of the lack of single rooms were identical twins Michael and Malcolm Peytavin, who had finally hoped to have individual rooms, even if it wasn't at home. Most of the students quartered there had the same gripes about the building: overcrowding, the necessity for a meal ticket for an off-campus loca- tion, the poor overall conditions and only one phone. The majority agreed that a lower rental fee would take care of many of the complaints. One of the most used facilities was the sundeck, the converted roof of the garage, where students spent much of their time while at the dorm. Because of the newly repaired roof Cone room had collected 16 gallons of water during a two-day periodl, and the overcrowding on campus, it appears the St. Ioseph Dorm will remain a part of the university for some time. Perhaps it might even become coed. Overshadowed by the now-famous poster of Far- rah Fawcett-Maiors. Michael Peytavin relaxes in the St. Ioseph Dorm. i .1 4 , - , fi jffdli 4 F -E- gi: ' 1. -tw. X -, ' fl' ,ifQ+ 1' .5 i. Q , dufirnnuw Dorm Lift