Students living on campus in dorms such as Parkside or Hillside aren’t afraid to air out their dirty laundry as they express concerns about faulty washing machines and dryers.
Many dorming students reported laundry machines breaking down often enough to inconvenience every residential hall, without any notice or warnings being posted on the appliances.
“One of the dryer machines at the Beachside dorms burnt my friend’s clothes pretty bad,” said second year transfer student and business major, Jose Francisco. “The staff told her it was possible the dryers were failed to be properly checked by maintenance before the beginning of the school year.”
Other issues students face are the disproportionate temperatures of air conditioning and showers.
“It takes forever for the showers to warm up,” said second year transfer student and political science major Ayari Martinez. “It’s frustrating because nothing is properly maintained and you’re spending so much to live in these dorms.”
Students like Martinez are frustrated with the broken amenities within dorms, especially when factoring in the amount they pay to live in campus housing.
Dorm rooms at the off-campus residential can often be uncomfortable during cold-weather season. Now that the temperature outside is decreasing, Beachside dorms are getting colder with the AC on all the time.
“Now that it’s getting colder, my room is freezing cold because Beachside never turns down their AC unit,” Francisco said. “I can’t study in my room because I’m not comfortable.”
Executive Director of Housing Corry Colonna said the university is in the process of getting new laundry machines for the dorms.
“[We have a] new contract [which will provide] brand new machines throughout campus and we are happy to announce that we will be able to use Beach Bucks on students’ ID,” Colonna said. “When students come back in January, new machines will be up and running.”
Colonna also said a new app would be put in place for students to put in work orders.
“If we can incorporate this into our system, we would likely do so next fall,” said Colonna. “Students [could] download on their phone to put in work orders for laundry machines. If students utilize this, it will assist in the repairs.”
According to Colonna, the length of time it takes for the showers in the residential halls to warm up depends on the size of the hall.
“Cold water has to run for a bit to get to the warm water that is sitting in the pipes out to allow for the hot water to get through,” Colonna said. “There isn’t really a great solution for this type of problem other than patience.”
Colonna also noted the issues with monitoring the AC at Beachside College, the only dorm with an AC unit.
“It is difficult to moderate the entire building complex,” said Colonna. “There are not thermostats in every room, so [we don’t have] the ability to moderate each room. We aim to have Beachside regulated around 72 degrees all year long.”
In issues regarding student hygiene and personal care, Colonna explained that items related to health and safety, plumbing, electrical go to the very top of their work list.
“Upon receiving a work order request, we send a technician as soon as possible,” explained Colonna. “If we get a call after hours for something that threatens health and safety, we will send someone out in the middle of the night. If it is deemed possible to wait (for example a plug that might have a fuse out or a very small leak) then we dispatch a staff member to check out the situation the next day.”
Items of lesser concern may take a little longer. According to Colonna, these items are usually carpentry issues related to blinds or broken furniture.
“We also are working to hire additional staff to assist us with resolving issues more quickly,” Colonna said. “Hiring can take some time, but we are interviewing candidates now and they should be on board very early into the Spring Semester.”