The John Hancock Student Village or (StuVi) is a large residential and recreational complex at
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...
, covering between Buick Street and
Nickerson Field
Nickerson Field is an outdoor athletic stadium in the Northeastern United States, on the campus of Boston University (BU) in Boston, Massachusetts. The stadium is owned by BU, and is the home field for some Boston University Terriers athletics p ...
, ground formerly occupied by a
National Guard
National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards.
N ...
Armory, which had been used by the University primarily (but not exclusively) as a storage facility prior to its
demolition
Demolition (also known as razing, cartage, and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a b ...
and the start of construction. The John Hancock Student Village was designed with the intention of fostering
community and bridging the divide between East and
West campuses.
The student residences at 10 Buick Street (often abbreviated to "StuVi" by students) opened to juniors and seniors in the fall of 2000. 10 Buick Street houses 817 residents in apartment-style living. In 2002,
John Hancock Insurance
John Hancock Life Insurance Company, U.S.A. is a Boston-based insurance company. Established April 21, 1862, it was named in honor of John Hancock, a prominent American Patriot.
In 2004, John Hancock was acquired by the Canadian multinational ...
announced its sponsorship of the multimillion-dollar project. The
Agganis Arena
Agganis Arena is a 7,200-seat multi-purpose arena in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, on the campus of Boston University, built on the location of the former Commonwealth Armory. It is home to the five-time national champion Boston Univers ...
, named after
Harry Agganis
Aristotle George "Harry" Agganis (April 20, 1929 – June 27, 1955), nicknamed "The Golden Greek", was an American college football player and professional baseball player. After passing up a potential professional football career, he played in M ...
, was opened to concerts and
hockey
Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
games in January 2005. The 7,200-seat arena replaced the smaller
Walter Brown Arena
Walter Brown Arena is a 3,806-seat multi-purpose arena in Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Boston University Terriers women's ice hockey team and hosted the men's team before they moved to Agganis Arena. It is named in honor of Walter A ...
for
Terrier hockey games and has also been used for concerts, shows, and events.
In March 2005 the final element of phase II of the Student Village complex, the
Fitness and Recreation (FitRec) Center, was opened, drawing large crowds from the student body. The center incorporates 6
racquetball
Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase vel ...
and
squash
Squash may refer to:
Sports
* Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets
* Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling
* Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...
courts, a competition pool, a recreational pool, two
gym
A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational in ...
nasia, a jogging track, a lazy river, and a rock climbing wall, among other sports-related areas.
A 26 and 19-story dorm tower which houses 960 students was finished in late 2009 (often abbreviated "StuVi2" or "StuVii" by students). The ''
Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'' ran a cover-page article about it, describing it as "perhaps the most opulent residence hall to ever grace the local college landscape."
The student residences and others like it have created somewhat of a controversy, with detractors saying it represents a step further of coddling the younger generation. BU's president, Robert Brown, said the tower will allow the entirety of the 80% of 16,000 undergrads who want to live on campus to be able to do so. Because the school guarantees on-campus housing, freshmen were often shunted into nearby hotels, a practice long criticized by the student newspaper. Brown also said it assuages
town and gown
Town and gown are two distinct communities of a university town; 'town' being the non-academic population and 'gown' metonymically being the university community, especially in ancient seats of learning such as Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, and ...
relations with local Allston residents in response to
studentification.
Plans were made for an additional residence located between the student residences at 33 Harry Agganis Way and 10 Buick Street. The project, known as Student Village III (StuVi3 or StuViii), are currently on hold as a result of the
global economic recession of the late 2000s.
Notes
{{Boston University
Buildings at Boston University
Student quarters