This is the second in a series of articles exploring next year’s housing options for Boston University students.

The disadvantages of West Campus’s distant location, strict security policies and cramped rooms are offset by the enjoyable campus atmosphere, dining hall and other conveniences, residents there said.

West Campus, located between Pleasant Street and Babcock Street behind Commonwealth Avenue, houses about 1,800 students, mostly freshman and sophomores. Students living at West Campus are divided about equally into Claflin Hall, Sleeper Hall and Rich Hall, according to West Campus Office of Residence Life director John Piga.

The dining hall at West Campus is equipped with ethernet and wireless-web access, and many students interviewed named it the best dining hall on campus. Fitness rooms, laundry facilities, a computer lab, study lounges, television lounges, a cinema room, a Campus Convenience store and a mail room at West Campus are mostly available to ‘the population at large’ during visiting, Piga said.

Case Center, the home of BU hockey, and Nickerson Field, BU’s soccer field are also located at West Campus.

Many students mentioned enjoying the more traditional college campus atmosphere at West Campus. Piga agreed that there is a different physical environment at West than at some of the other campus dormitories like Warren Towers, where he has also served as an ORL director.

‘At West you get to step out of the front door onto a plaza with trees and grass and sometimes flowers,’ he said. ‘At Warren you step out onto Comm. Ave.’

College of Communication sophomore Beth Nakamura said the environment is the best part of the area.

‘I like the atmosphere here,’ said Nakamura, who has lived in Claflin Hall for two years. ‘It’s very energetic, but not as crazy as I hear it is in Warren.’

One complaint about West Campus frequently brought up by students is the residence’s distance from important locations, such as the College of Arts and Sciences building.

‘The distance is bad when you wake up late for class,’ Nakamura said. ‘But sometimes I like being able to go to school and come home where I’m not in the middle of everything.’

Jen Sandham, a College of General Studies freshman also living in Claflin Hall, agreed that the location is not always convenient.

‘Location-wise, it’s very convenient to be at CGS, but if you have class somewhere else, it’s not,’ she said. ‘I’m going to be in SMG, and that’s the whole way on the other side of campus.’

Another standard objection of West Campus students is BU’s security policy, which requires students to swipe into residences and adhere to a guest policy. Sandham said although all students living in dormitories must follow the policies, students living at locations such as South Campus or Bay State Road are not required to.

‘In other housing, it’s not as strict,’ she said.

West Campus offers single, double and triple occupation rooms, Piga said. West Campus formerly provided large quads, which were each converted into two triples this year to create more bed space, according to Piga.

Vito Giacaloni, a College of Fine Arts freshman, said she dislikes living in one of the ‘crammed triples’ in Sleeper Hall.

‘I think they should move the third person into the big triples that are on every other floor to give us some space,’ she said.

Piga, who as a housing director deals with ‘behavioral issues of students,’ said he has dealt with most of the same student issues at Warren Towers and West Campus. He said he believes Warren Towers gives the impression of a hectic environment because students living there are not separated and all enter and exit through the same door.