Living in a dorm building is one of the experiences that all incoming students look forward to when coming to college. But sometimes, the living space does not meet expectations.
It is encouraged for students to live on campus because it is a great way to meet new people and learn how to live in diverse environments. Additionally, it is an easy way to get involved in campus life and events. Winthrop has a two-year residency requirement for first and second–year students.
This semester there have been multiple complaints from students about their dorm rooms and buildings, along with several major facility complications in the buildings.
At the beginning of the semester, students in The Courtyard experienced their air conditioning units not working. Some units became frozen because of the temperature being turned down too low.
These students were experiencing temperatures up to 85 degrees in their rooms. To get some relief from the heat, students were having to buy fans for their rooms and open their room windows with outside temperatures upwards of 80 degrees.
“Having the AC go out causes a lot of issues, and for me, it made sleeping hard. I prefer to sleep when it’s cold, so when the AC was out, the room was hot, and I was losing the limited sleep that I already get,” said freshman Will Elliott.
As a result of the multiple AC units breaking in Courtyard, many students were given a portable window AC unit. Courtyard residents received an email on Sept. 29 from Courtyard Residential Learning Coordinator Amanda Marshall on behalf of Facilities Management to find out how many students have a portable AC unit.
In addition to the broken AC units in Courtyard, in the last two weeks, students on the second floor of Courtyard experienced flooding in their rooms from a broken water pipe in the ceiling.
According to Howard Seidler, the interim director of residence life, three suites in Courtyard were affected by the plumbing leak.
These individual students were forced to move the majority of their belongings out of their rooms. Some students were placed into other dorm buildings while the issue is being fixed.
It is not clear when these students will be able to move back into their Courtyard rooms. However, the ceiling tiles outside the second-floor elevator have been taken down in order for maintenance to look at the pipes in the ceiling.
“Something that bothers me about Courtyard is that when things happen in the building, they don’t tell us. When the pipes burst, and there was flooding, they never said a word to us about what happened. I would’ve liked to know what happened and if I should have been concerned about it,” said Ella McKinney, senior English major and Courtyard resident.
Aside from the issues in Courtyard, Nick Rose, a freshman music technology major, expressed his concerns about living in Richardson.
“It is a pretty old building, so there’s always going to be something wrong. My AC by the window does not work, and the carpet is dirty. I just feel like the whole building needs to be updated,” Rose said.
Although there have been many complaints and issues occurring in the residence halls this year, it is important to remember that the buildings have aged, with the oldest residence hall, Margaret Nance, being built in 1895.
