“There’s never been a better time than now to be a student at
Pitt-Bradford,” said the University’s president, Dr. Livingston
Alexander, at Friday’s dedication of the Reed-Coit House residence
hall.

“The Reed-Coit House is one of the most wonderful assets of our
campus,” Alexander said. It is named after sisters Dorothy Reed and
Berdena (Reed) Coit, lifelong residents of the area who valued
learning and education. Reed left a $1 million bequest to the
university; Coit left $375,000 to the university.

Their gifts were used to fund student scholarships.

The 103-student Reed-Coit House is designed like an apartment
building rather than a dormitory, as each bedroom has a bathroom.
Each student has a bed, desk, shelving unit, chair and a wardrobe
closet with drawers. The rooms can be entered by a card key access
system.

In fact, the rooms are so nice, at least one of the university’s
dignitaries was joking about going back to school.

“Many of us who hang around this campus harbor secret illusions
about returning to college again,” joked McKean County President
Judge John Cleland, chairman of the University’s Advisory Board. “I
would hate to give up the comforts of home, of course. But living
in Reed-Coit House would not be all that bad.

“And, after all, no one ever said learning occurs best in a
monastic setting with students sleeping on planks, sitting on
three-legged stools, studying by candlelight and sharing
outhouses,” he added with a laugh.

And the Reed-Coit House is far from the conditions Cleland
jokingly described. After a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the resident
advisors led tours through the hall, which is already occupied by
students.

“I love it,” exclaimed RA and tour guide Ed Nolter, a public
relations major, showing a group of five people around the
building. There are two-resident suites, which Nolter explained
could accommodate a married couple who was residing on campus;
four-resident suites and five-resident suites, which feature one
single bedroom for the resident advisors.

The apartments, which are air conditioned, include a shared
living room area with two couches and a cable television hookup, a
kitchen with a refrigerator and table with four chairs and a
storage room.

Many people who attended the dedication stayed for the tours to
see what life would be like for the students lucky enough to be in
the new residence hall.

Several kidded Nolter that he might be tempted to be a perpetual
student now that his living quarters are so nice – he just smiled
and laughed in response.

In Cleland’s address prior to the tour, he said, “The commitment
we expect from our students is that you will make the most of your
college years, that you will be productive citizens, that you will
not shirk from the challenges of your day, and that you will live
your lives as lifelong learners, fulfilling the hopes and dreams of
your teachers, so someday you will say ‘I wish I could go back to
college again.’ “