By Zach Logan, News Editor
ASU student Jen Kelly says it’s supposed to be convenient to live on campus. But students like Kelly say living here this past summer was a far cry. According to Kelly, such issues as broken steps leading to second and third-floor dorms, and minimal laundry facilities made campus-living difficult. Kelly says she even missed class one day due to the lack of laundry equipment. Another student says she was sometimes awake until two in the morning just doing her laundry.
These photos display the large pieces of missing stairs, and untidy laundry facilities featuring garbage spilling out of bins and covering the floor. Kelly says she noticed the stairs getting worse every day and contacted Housing Services numerous times to get the problem fixed.
The Inkwell took the students’ concerns to Director of Housing and Residence Life, Nick Shrader. He describes the summer term as a transition period. He says that while an old company was wrapping up their contract and moving out, a new company was moving in. Therefore, the transition could be to blame for the lack of laundry equipment. Shrader says as of August 31st, all laundry facilities will be in operation with brand new washing machines and dryers.
As for the messiness, Shrader explains that when a certain area sees so much daily traffic with numerous students coming in and out to use the facilities, it can get dirty. Housing staff visits the laundry facilities periodically to clean up, but Housing asks students to be sure to pick up after themselves. The broken steps are also being repaired.
In addition, Shrader says that Housing Services is working on a number of projects for the upcoming school year, including a new coat of paint for a few of the housing buildings and more Wi-Fi accessibility.
Students moved in just two weeks ago for the fall semester. Shrader says that Housing has already begun talking with students and solving maintenance issues. Now, if a problem arises, Housing Services strongly encourages those needing assistance to fill out a maintenance request form that can be found on the ‘Housing and Residence Life’ section of the University’s website.
If those living on campus have an emergency issue, they should speak with a resident assistant who will then contact the appropriate responder. Shrader says that Housing works to solve the issues as quickly as possible, but includes that some requests may take longer to complete than others.
But the solutions from this past summer may have taken too long for students like Kelly. She says that due to what she believes is a lack of communication and going long periods of time with certain maintenance issues, she may be finding living arrangements elsewhere.
