By Benjamin Chan

After selling its Donahue and Archer buildings on Temple Street in July, Suffolk University will move off of historic Beacon Hill at the end of this school year. As a new student, I am glad to see the Suffolk community moving closer to downtown Boston and allowing Beacon Hill to be quieter as fewer students travel through on their way to class.

Moving classes from Archer and Donahue to the new 20 Somerset building provides students with modern classrooms, new science lab space and more open space to relax and socialize. With a consolidated campus, finding a quick lunch or a coffee before hurrying off to your next class will be much easier without worrying about being late.

Aside from the improved campus space, Donahue and Archer now seem excluded from the rest of campus and downtown.

It’s inconvenient for Suffolk students to make the steep climb from Temple Street to the rest of campus, and it is very time consuming to walk back and forth from the main part of campus to Archer and Donahue and Ridgeway.

As I adjust to life on campus, I noticed that walking from Suffolk’s 73 Tremont building to Donahue and back felt like it took forever. It is a struggle for me to climb to the top of the hill just to reach the downtown area. It’s fair to speculate that it’s highly probable that many students dislike having one class in Donahue, and then rushing all the way across campus to 73 Tremont for their next class. Some may not like the idea of trudging up and over the Bowdoin Street hill when they’re in a rush.

On Temple Street, I feel like I am in a different environment, one that is much quieter and more serene than the bustling city life on Tremont Street. Near Sawyer and 20 Somerset, cars zoom down Bowdoin Street’s sloping hill and students hang out in front of the buildings, causing heavy traffic and lots of commotion. The university’s move will make it more convenient for students walking to and from the many transit stations, cafes, restaurants, and shops in the downtown area.

Moving Suffolk out of Beacon Hill will also decrease the heavy foot traffic from students, which can be a nuisance for those who live on or near Temple Street.

It can get hectic with crowds of students on the sidewalks during shows and events held at Donahue and Archer. When students park their cars on the narrow street, they create a bottleneck in front of Suffolk’s buildings that only increases foot traffic tenfold.

With Suffolk out of Beacon Hill’s residential community next year, I hope to see new developments that provide the area with something new and different. While I do wish to rid the hill of Suffolk, finding a way to give life to this quiet area of Boston will be the key moving forward.