By Bella Omar
Editorial Staff
While Linsley Hall is closed for 2023-24 academic year, it will be reopened for students who need housing next summer.
Associate Dean of Students and Director of Residence Life Glenn Cochran said, “The likely plan is that right now, we’re considering it [Linsley Hall] as an option to be available for the summer. … That’s our tentative plan.”
When a multi-million dollar renovation of Linsley Hall occurred in 2002, air conditioning was added. Linsley Hall became the University’s summer on-campus housing option, according to Framingham State’s website.
Angelina Amoo, a senior who lived in Linsley Hall last summer, said, “I’m really relieved that Linsley will be an option again next summer. It’s air conditioned and just a great option for those of us who need break housing.”
Cochran said FSU students lived in Linsley last summer along with international students, interns, and Massachusetts Bay Community College students.
Interns were from local businesses around the area, including Bose and Staples, he said.
Cochran added the interns were “finishing doing like full-time internships for their college programs.”
The internship program has been “a really successful program so far. … They have been really good community members.”
Adebayo Adeleke, a junior who lived in Linsley last summer, said, “I was actually surprised with how close I got to a lot of the non-FSU kids. I made a lot of friends and I hope they bring them back next summer.”
Linsley Hall is not available this year as a housing option because the University is cutting costs on staffing, including maintainers and RAs, Cochran said.
FSU still pays fees for Linsley Hall to the MCBA (Massachusetts College Building Association).
Linsley Hall has the capacity to house 157 students year round. Students in need of break housing during the academic year have the option of residing in Larned Hall, which houses “approximately 260 [students]” this year, said Cochran.
Break housing offers residence for students when other residence halls are closed for holidays and between semesters.
Larned Hall was originally designed to house “well over 300,” but due to the addition of premium singles this year, that number has been reduced, he said.
With premium singles being added and on-campus residency on the rise, FSU residence halls are at “about 94%, 95% of our capacity configured” with Larned being completely full, Cochran added.
Many students were relieved to know that an air conditioned building will be available next summer.
According to a Gatepost article published in November 2022, the University was considering selling Linsley Hall due to declining enrollment and financial challenges. The resident student population has declined since the pandemic, leading to less demand for housing. Therefore, the University was looking to cut unneeded operations costs, according to the Gatepost article.
Eilish Heffernan, a junior, said, “I spent a lot of time in that building last year and my friends and I all thought that it was being torn down or sold over the summer. … I’m glad more students will get to enjoy it, though. I have a lot of happy memories there.”
Beverly Leino, who graduated last May and lived on campus during her undergraduate years, said, “It gets really hot during the summer and I cannot imagine staying here without that air conditioning in Linsley, and there are a lot more students who live here over the summer than you would think.”
Larned Hall does not have air conditioning. “We would like to have air conditioning in whatever our summer building is,” said Cochran. “We would have to do it [install air conditioning] in the summer because we can’t do it when it’s occupied.”
Emma Brosnan, a junior who resided in Larned Hall her sophomore year, said, “I don’t live here during the summer but even my room in Larned during the end of the school year, it was unbearably hot. … I always had my fan on,” she added, “so I don’t think it would be fair to have people living in there when it gets even hotter in July.”
Linsley Hall, a three-story residence hall at the end of Adams Road, was built in 1971.
It was named after James D. Linsley (1936-1970), a professor who taught pre-Civil War American history and the history of people from under-represented groups in America.