Lyons and tigers and boys? Oh my!
Adding males to Lyons brings new tour route and other changes

Jacqueline Cain | staff writer
jcain@smcvt.edu

After years of showing Lyons first-floor South dorm rooms on campus tours, Joyce first-floor North is now the hall that potential students see. This change was made because Lyons first-floor South now houses male students.

Tour detour

“A tour went through Lyons at the beginning of this academic year,” says Stephanie Noakes, admission receptionist. “A parent made a comment in reference to odor.”

This is the first year that Lyons Hall will house men. Larry Frisoli, photo

Practically speaking, the odor was probably the sports equipment the boy had in his room, she says.

“None of them [the quad buildings] are palaces,” she says. “They’re dorm rooms.”

 Girls just put more effort into decorating and keeping their dorm rooms neat, Noakes says.

Having to walk to Joyce first-floor North from the library is somewhat inconvenient for tour guides, who usually follow the paved pathway that passes in front of the south entrances of Lyons and Joyce.

Admissions would love to find a young man concerned with the appearance of his dorm room to show on tours, but for now, the tours will stick with showing the girls’ wing in Joyce, Noakes says.

Campus changes

In the past few years, Residence Life has received fewer requests for single-sex housing, which prompted the decision to make Lyons coed, says Lou DiMasi, director of Residence Life.

In addition to satisfying the requests of incoming students for housing preferences, DiMasi says Residence Life saw the need to diversify the first-year living areas to create a positive living environment.

Bringing about this change was not limited to making Lyons coed. It also included increasing the number of women’s floors in Ryan Hall, adding Growing Recognition of the Effects of Alcohol on Thinking (GREAT) housing and Academics, Creativity, Merit and Excellence (ACME, honors) in Ryan Hall, and locating good Residence Life staffs in Lyons, Ryan and Joyce Halls.

“It’s all about giving students positive choices,” DiMasi says.

Boys will be boys

Sophomore Bridie Dailey lived in Lyons Hall last year when it was all female. She is now the resident assistant (RA) for Lyons third-floor North. Of the eight halls in Lyons, three now house men.

Male and female students hang out in Lyons. Larry Frisoli, photo

When Dailey is on duty in the first-floor staff office, she can hear males yelling at the TV while they watch Red Sox games, she says.

“Boys are more vocal about everything!” she says.

Dailey says she has noticed the men yell to one another down hallways and even to other wings and floors. She also hears more vulgarity and swears in the halls, as well as different kinds of music.

“I heard Metallica in Lyons for the first time,” she says.

The music is not only a different genre than Dailey is used to, but also a different volume.

“It’s different because last year, people would say something if it was too loud,” she says.

Dailey and her floormates wouldn’t hesitate to knock on the door of a neighbor blasting loud
music at 10 p.m. Some people might be intimidated by asking a member of the opposite sex to quiet down on a school night, so more noise is tolerated than would have been when the hall was only girls, she says. 

Another difference Dailey has noticed is odor in the building.

“The second floor stairwell smells like vanilla, cologne and garbage,” she says, laughing a little. “It’s still really clean, though.”

Males now take up 3/8 of Lyons. Larry Frisoli, photo

Dailey misses Lyons being a place to sleep and get work done after going out to other residence halls, but she enjoys the social aspect of having guys in the hall, she says.