St. Bonaventure University is a small, private, Franciscan university located adjacent to Olean, NY. I say adjacent to Olean because many people say St. Bonaventure University is IN Olean. Some say, it is in the town that borders Olean, Allegany, NY. Neither is true. St. Bonaventure University has it own post office, so technically, St. Bonaventure University is located in St. Bonaventure, NY.

St. Bonaventure University also known as SBU, was founded in 1858 by the Franciscan Friars, Holy Name Province. The University is on 500 acres of land containing 5 residence halls, 2 apartment buildings (16 apartments), 12 townhouse buildings (84 townhouse apartments), 5 academic halls, the student center, the ministry center, the friary, the observatory and a maintenance building.

St. Bonaventure University used to be a school purely for male commuters. Currently, 74% of students live on campus. The male to female ratio is 1:1. There are approximately 2,500 undergraduate students and 700 graduate students enrolled at St. Bonaventure University.

St. Bonaventure University offers 32 undergraduate majors and 29 graduate programs. Journalism/Mass Communication is the top major, followed by Elementary Education.

St. Bonaventure University is most commonly known for its basketball team. Currently, SBU has a Division I basketball team. Its team participates in the Atlantic 10 Conference and (if they’re lucky) the NCAA Tournament. A “basketball great,” Bob Lanier, was on the SBU team in the 1960s. Lanier led St. Bonaventure’s team to a 22-0 regular-season record and a No. 3 national ranking in his sophomore year. He set school marks for scoring (2,067 points) and rebounding (1,180).

The school is named St. Bonaventure for two reasons. First, St. Bonaventure was a Franciscan who emulated St. Francis’s way. Secondly, the word “Bonaventure” means the “Good Journey.” This is an essential phrase for the students at Bonaventure. The good journey is promoted through small class sizes (teacher to student ratio 1:17). This helps the intimate setting of St. Bonaventure University.

This Good Journey school is not without its problems. During the early 1990s, St. Bonaventure almost declared bankruptcy. This resulted in a temporary raise enrollment, and a new PR department. With these changes, Bonaventure has been able to take itself out of financial hardship.

Another cloud over the Good Journey is the recent lawsuits. The first one was settled out of court. The current one has become rather messy. Dr. Greer, a tenured sociology professor at Bonaventure, was dismissed from working at SBU because of several allegations of racism, discrimination, prejudice and unprofessionalism*. This case is giving the university so much negative press; there was a recent article in the Wall Street Journal regarding this matter.

St. Bonaventure is located in the snowbelt of New York. The winter can be seemingly endless. The lake effect snow hardly ever affects the flow of things though. In the past 125 years, St. Bonaventure has only cancelled classes 3 times. One student was heard saying, “I love St. Bonaventure. 10 months of winter – and two months of really bad sledding.”

St. Bonaventure University is a school of traditions. Every year, the students can expect the first snowball fight to be held outside of Shay/Loughlin Hall at 2am during a pulled fire alarm. Every year, students will see all of their long lost friends at opening mass in the quad. This mass is more of a social than religious experience. Every year, students will try to build a mud wrestling pit out at townhouses during spring weekend. Every year, students find themselves getting invited over to a professor’s house for dinner. Every year, students find themselves in a yellow Wolfpack t-shirt in the Reilly Center cheering on the Bonnies. And every year, you’ll find yourself in someone room realizing that this time will be the best time of your life.

All schools have good and bad things. St. Bonaventure University’s school spirit and pride mixed with the Franciscan tradition helps to make St. Bonaventure University a majestic place.

If anyone wants more information on St. Bonaventure, feel free to /msg me. I graduated from St. Bonaventure with my BS in 2000 and with my MS in 2001.


*On a personal note, I can tell you that these accusations are 110% true. I personally witnessed Dr. Greer “in action.” Dr. Greer himself does not deny his actions, he denies the interpretations of his actions. He says his actions were meant to help “open the minds” of his students. The reason he is fighting these allegations is because at the time Dr. Robert J. Wickenheiser, the university president, dismissed Dr. Greer, Dr. Wickenheiser did not have full knowledge of ALL of the miss-doings of Dr. Greer. Therefor, at the time of dismissal, Dr. Wickenheiser did not have enough knowledge to fire Dr. Greer.

All statistics from: http://www.sbu.edu

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