Suite Life at Hudson Hall

Chris Telford, Staff Writer

Hudson Hall’s appearance is luxurious. A Starbucks,convenience store, 5,000 square foot gym, lounge area on all four floors, and 4 and 6 person suite rooms. 350 plus lucky students moved out hotels such as the WestChester Marriott, Hampton Inn, Residence Inn, and a few from the Hyatt house in  to Hudson Hall on January 19. Hudson Hall opened officially on January 19 for students to dorm at  Mercy College has the Dobbs Ferry campus in a frenzy. Each floor in the new dorms have a common lounge area, plasma TV, trash cans, and a computer lab.  The ground floor consists of a gym, Starbucks, convenience store, front desk staff and security, and residence life office. The convenience store has the feeling of a mini deli. Students have the option of purchasing items that are normally in a corner store or supermarket.  At the convenience store and Starbucks students can purchase groceries such as bread, roman noodles, peanut butter, cream cheese, ham, , turkey, chips, cookies, candy, soft drinks, and more.

One student relishes the idea of using his meal plan to buy food in the convenience store. ” Just being able to walk in there and buy roman noodles, bread, and cold cuts gives dorm life a whole different eating experience ” says resident William Fredrick. With the options of choosing between a four and six person suite the new dorms has a hotel like feel to it. Four person suites have two rooms with two beds in each, two closets, two desks, and dressers, a single bathroom. Six person suites have three rooms with two beds each, and two bathrooms.

The attraction of the option to dorm in a suite has intrigued students to have a desire to dorm in Hudson Hall.  Excitement and Skepticism was wondering the minds of hundreds of students when they were informed that they were moving into Hudson Hall for the spring 2016 semester. Students were given the opportunity to choose their suite mates they wished to dorm with in November of 2015. Students were informed of their room placements in early January around the 5th to 10th. The majority of students were paired with  whom they chose to dorm with. However, a few students got random suite mates. The Dobbs Ferry campus feels more close knit than ever. Students from the hotels are now living in the same building. The majority of students are now all living on campus.

The biggest downfall to Hudson Hall has to be that their is no microwave for students to use. With over 350 plus students living at Hudson Hall their is no place to warm up cold food after the cafe closes at 8:30 pm in main hall. Students are outraged that no microwave is in the entire Hudson hall building. ” How am I supposed to heat up by food if I have a night class and get out at 9 pm? ; ” What if it is a snow day, ” How can we heat up frozen dinners with no microwave ” says resident Lesly Toussaint . It will remain a boiling topic until a microwave is placed inside Hudson Hall for students to use.

Should students petition for a microwave in Hudson Hall or will they continue to eat cold food after main hall is closed at night? For now the dorm experience at Hudson Hall seems like daisy and roses. Whether or not Hudson Hall can have a long lasting presence on students to continue to dorm will either increase or decrease. After all Mercy College is a commuter school. The spotlight is shining on Hudson Hall at the Dobbs Ferry Campus and is the main attraction. Suite Life at Hudson Hall is finally here and living up to high expectations.  Let’s just wait and see if Suite Life at Hudson will continue to thrive or crumble in the future.