By Liz Do
After dropping nearly $10,000 to live in Pitman Hall, Kira Guloien was surprised to find human clippings in her residence room.
“There were toenails in my bed. And there were these stains on the mattress,” said the first-year theatre performance student.
On August 24th, hundreds of new students moved into Pitman Hall, the ILLC and O’Keefe House only to find out that their home away from home was dirtier than the room they left behind. Guloien is just one of many residence students who arrived to stained carpets, soiled mattresses and broken toilets.
Rebecca Hetz, a radio and television student also living in the ILLC, has a list of complaints about her room.
“My phone doesn’t work, my toilet backs up all the time, the floor isn’t vacuumed and my dresser drawer doesn’t close, said Hetz.
“I thought it would be little cleaner, I was hoping they’d at least clean the carpet. It wasn’t what I expected, to come into an already dirty room, I’m already a messy person to begin with.”
Mysterious stains were the biggest complaint from students living in residence.
Farah Elsadek, a part-time student living in ILLC, said she is happy overall with her room, but that her couch is another story. “The couch has some spots on it. I don’t even want to know what they’re from.”
Student housing manager, Glen Weppler, said students need to fill out a maintenance report at the housing office to get residence problems fixed. Weppler said it’s important for students to complete the room inventory form if they haven’t already done so.
“We have several staff members who take care of this, and it’s their responsibility to go through and check [residence rooms]. Once a student fills out a sheet, then service staff goes through them and responds,” he said.
Unfortunately, students like Hetz and Guloien might have to wait a while before maintenance heads their way.
Due to the high volume of complaints, Weppler said it may take a few weeks to respond to everyone.
Meanwhile, students are finding their own solutions. Theatre production student, Andrew McAllister, found an easy answer for his two-legged couch by putting a few spare magazines underneath it. Claire Forward, a first-year in architecture, found a way to spruce up her filthy couch.
“The couch was really dirty. It was gross, and I didn’t want to sit on it, so I put a blanket over it.”
Although most students interviewed pointed out at least one negative feature about their dorm room, some weren’t upset with the condition they were living in, but rather were disappointed that the rooms weren’t worth the big bucks they were shelling out to live on-campus.
Sydney McKennen, a fashion student living in Pitman Hall, said the state of her room was surprising considering the cost.
“You’re paying so much to live here, so you’re expecting a certain level of quality. I mean, we don’t expect the conditions to be perfect, and we know that the rooms are old, but you’re paying so much to stay on campus, you should be getting something out of it.”
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