With the recently announced Campus Master Plan, students are concerned money allocated to the plan will not be used to fix residence hall issues, such as black mold and roaches in student housing.
Sam Poland, a sophomore psychology major, said he has been dealing with multiple issues living in Lee Wicker, including humidity, mold and roaches.
“We have a serious humidity issue that destroyed my roommate’s medicine. Maintenance tried to blame it on the open window, but… [t]he humidity was an issue long before the window was opened,” Poland said. “We were also told there’s nothing that can be done until the heat gets turned on. We’re still not sure what that has to do with the humidity.”
He had to buy a new shower liner because his was infested with mold from the bathroom, but the issue has mostly been resolved.
“Maintenance came and mopped the ceiling, so that mold is mostly gone,” said Poland.
Poland said even if he spoke up about his roach problem, nothing would be done.
“We haven’t asked about it because my friends have roaches in their room and they were told that the exterminator could spray a little extra when they came, but that was it,” he said.
Junior and senior students have complained about the black mold in their residence halls since their freshman year here at Winthrop, some have even been experiencing deteriorating health because of it.
There has been little discussion on the issue up until recently with the Garnet Table Talk on Oct. 20 presented by James Grigg, the associate vice president for facilities. During the talk, Grigg said facilities is working on getting board approval for a ventilation project in Lee Wicker.
Chloe Thomas, a freshman English major, said that she isn’t really surprised by the lack of response.
“My roommate put in a work order for a broken power outlet on Aug.18 and it still hasn’t been fixed,” said Thomas.
Alex Hindman, a junior graphic design major who also lives in Lee Wicker, believes residence life should be doing more to ensure the safety and cleanliness of the rooms before students move in by cleaning and checking the rooms properly before letting student’s move in.
A student, who requested to stay anonymous due to the sensitivity of the subject, had to see a doctor due to residence hall conditions.
“I don’t understand why they charge us so much money for us to live here and then give us rooms full of black mold and are crawling with roaches and ladybugs,” they said. “I even had to see a dermatologist because of how bad the black mold was affecting my skin and overall health.”
