We Got 99 Problems And They Can’t Fix One: Dorm Maintenance Malfunctions

 

The cost of attending PUC for one academic year is $35,616. Out of that large amount of money, $4,380 is allotted for dormitory fees. The combined seven dorms on campus contain 603 student rooms. This year there are 1,105 students who live in the dorms, as confirmed by PUC Student Services. That means that the combined tuition fees for all current residence hall students that were collected by PUC are approximately $4,839,900 for dorm fees alone this year.* That is the raw fiscal data and, as a student, certain implications can be extrapolated from it. I fully understand that dorms require money allotments to remain functional: electricity, water, equipment, etc. However, I cannot comprehend as to why our dorms have such lagging maintenance repair timelines.

      In Grainger Hall the third floor has had a broken water fountain since the beginning of fall quarter. It has been reported to maintenance several times and alas, the residents are still parched. I am not the only student that recognizes the lack of maintenance. It has become the laughing stock of the dorm and is the landing spot for printed out memes and jokes that mock the fact that the fountain is still broken after such an extended period of time. I am not an accounting major, but I hypothesize that we can afford a new water fountain. That is just a fraction of the dorm related complaints that I hear that can be easily fixed. Should I even bring up the fact that Grainger has only one dryer that works? No, that one is fun, I love waiting in line for several hours to make sure my clothes aren’t soaked. Water fountain aside, as inconvenient as broken appliances are, there are actual safety issues in play that need to be addressed. 

      The morning of May 10th, freshman social work major Emilio Castillo was rushed to the emergency room because the top bunk of his bed fell through the frame and landed on his head, causing a concussion. Castillo was laying on the bottom bed when his friend shifted his weight on top and the boards slipped through the space, proceeding to crash down. Upon further examination, the bed boards that support the weight of the top bunk were too short for the frame. This means that with certain movements, disasters can and have happened because the beds have inadequate parts on them. When asked about the event, Castillo recalled the experience by saying, “No one really expects a bunk bed to fall on your head, much less in your dorm, that’s that stuff you see in movies. It was just really unlucky, you know? I’m glad it was just a mild concussion though, it could have been a lot worse.” With dangerous incidents happening that could be prevented by simple dorm upgrades, I feel the dorms need more financial attention brought to them.

      I am not asking for PUC to build us new dorms, that is unrealistic and unwarranted. However, I do feel as if the exorbitant amount of money that the dorm fees amount to needs to be spent in a way that reflects the needs of the students. As students, we need to report every broken item in the dorm to maintenance, because I am aware that sometimes we see inadequacies and just complain without taking the proper steps to finding a solution. The school, on the other hand, needs to either hire more maintenance workers or prioritize fixing dorm appliances and features, because if PUC spent as much time fixing the dorms as they do planting flowers on every inch of this campus, the dorms would be in satisfactory condition. 

*All financial and dorm figures were obtained from the official PUC website. 

(Grainger Third Floor Watering Hole)

Act For Change, Don’t Just Complain

      It is common to hear student’s at PUC complaining about aspects of the institution. There is no issue in complaining and most of the opinions I hear are valid, but the problem is I only hear complaints spreading through the student body and no one taking action. There are two distinct types of complaints that envelop the social circles: students want unrealistic campus changes (e.g. dorms) or complaints regarding a system or policy in-place at PUC (e.g. curfew). I want to focus on the later of the two types because that is where the student body can actually take a stand and make a difference. 

     There are a limited amount of SA officer and student senator positions that are offered to the students and the amount of availabilities is disproportional to the amount of criticism that gets thrown around. However, there is a false sense among the student body that if one is not in a position of official student power, that they, in-turn, lack, “student power.” This is false and the idea that the student body itself contains immense amounts of systematic influence needs to be recognized and if needed, implemented and used. In my three years at PUC, I have not seen a well-executed example of a student demonstration taking an organized stand to protest a policy. The best I have seen is a Facebook post bashing on the cafeteria that gets over 80 likes. We can do better than that.

     A recent event at Rutgers University sparked national attention when 50 students marched into the administration building and began a formal sit-in protest. Right away it attracted student attention and the mass grew so large that the campus police were forced to stop students from entering the building. This sounds a bit extreme so you must be thinking that it was in response to a terrible announcement that was going to ruin the student’s graduation plans. The reality is that the students were protesting the selection of former U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, as the school’s graduation commencement speaker. After a few days of protesting and media attention, Condoleezza Rice withdrew from making the commencement speech. Students — 1, Rutgers — 0.

     If a student group can unite and present their cause so well that it gains national attention, then imagine the intense message and pressure the school received. Rewind to the colloquy where Dr. Ben Carson addressed out student body and community. Before, during, and after his speech I was seeing multiple complaints raining down from Twitter and Facebook in regards to his strong political views and whether or not PUC was trying to promote a certain outlook. However, no form of action was taken.

     I am not trying to encourage students to storm into any offices, get hundreds of signatures on petitions, and sit-out colloquies all because they want better cafeteria food. If you are a student that thinks that you can contribute to improving PUC, then run for student senate or SA office next year. We must always try and promote systematic change through official and appropriate channels first. When or if those channels fail, however, we as students need to remember that we have not even come close to reaching the limit of our influence and we mustn’t be afraid to stand up for our beliefs.