Residents in The Olde Forced to Relocate Ahead of Storm

By Tia Porter

Updates:

Heating issues on campus haven’t been limited to The Olde. While residents like Vivar, Vaughan and their roommates were temporarily relocated to the freshman dorm buildings early in the semester, students in The Commons faced problems of their own.

“We knew that The Olde had it worse than us,” said Ella Slomba, a junior majoring in photography and journalism, “but it took about a week or so before we got a space heater. We had a residential assistant (RA) come in and do temperature checks before two service workers analyzed our heat and thermostat. They said we were missing a valve that had to be replaced, and the thermostat in our living room was broken. They said they would return later that night or in the morning the following day, and never did.”

In the wake of a campus-wide boiler failure, students like Slomba remain frustrated with the slow rate of repairs.

Slomba lives in The Commons, where she and her roommates have dealt with very little heating in most of their apartment since returning to campus. Residents in The Commons were also offered space heaters, but because of their limited supply, getting one was difficult. Eventually, by sheer coincidence, Slomba ran into an RA who was able to get her a space heater after checking on the temperature in Slomba’s apartment.

“If it was under 63 degrees, then you were able to receive a space heater,” Slomba said. “The day before we got ours, it was 59 degrees in our place.”

Similar to several cases in The Olde, Slomba’s issues in The Commons extend to the previous semester, during which her apartment had little to no heat. At the start of November, when the temperature continued to plummet, Slomba recalled feeling warmer outside than inside her own apartment. Months later, she continues to wait for Facilities to fix the underlying problem.

“Though it was nice to have Facilities come by to finally check on our heat, the fact that we haven't seen them in two weeks says a lot,” Slomba said. “Yes, we received the space heater, but the broken valve and thermostat in the living room aren't going anywhere. I honestly think it would've taken a lot longer if I hadn't been in the right place at the right time to get the heater we have.”

Facilities did not respond to a request for comments in a timely manner.  

When students returned to The Olde after winter break, many were shocked to find that both the heating and the water in their apartments weren’t working. The heat had been out since students came back to campus on Tuesday, and the water went out on Thursday, after classes began. 

“I haven’t showered for two days,” said Diego Vivar, a senior majoring in graphic design. “There is a snowstorm coming in, and we don’t have no heat.” 

Vivar was one of many students who didn’t have access to heating or hot water. For those experiencing problems, temporary space heaters were offered, which students could pick up from their resident assistant (RA).  

“The Olde is in pretty bad shape,” said Michael Portanova, a senior majoring in graphic design. “We have been without heat since we moved in. And without water in our showers for a few days, and the hot water is off. All we have is cold water, but it’s blisteringly cold. It took us a while to get space heaters, too. They told us they were out, so we had to call a lot of people just to get one, and then miraculously a bunch more appeared.” 

One of the space heaters offered to students in The Olde. (Photo by Nolan Locke)

While Facilities sent out emails offering updates on the situation, a clear reason for the outage was not given. Moreover, this isn’t the first time residents have reported problems with their apartments in The Olde and failed to get a clear response. 

“Purchase is very inconsistent with things,” Vivar said. “There have been circumstances where we have reported problems and it’s taken them longer to check it out.” 

Back in September, Vivar and his suitemates in The Olde filed several work orders, including one for the stairs to their apartment. However, it wasn’t until part of the stairs collapsed that someone was sent to fix the problem. 

“I spend so much money to live in an apartment here at The Olde,” Vivar said, “and it’s ridiculous because my previous semester, we reported the stairs problem, and they ignored it until one of my suitemates fell through the stairs. There’s also a leak on our roof that hasn’t gotten fixed. We reported it since, like, since move-in day. We had some people from Facilities come check it out. They looked at it, they said ‘Yup, that’s a roof problem,’ then left. We haven’t gotten an update since.” 

Buckets set up by Vivar and his suitemates beneath the leak in their ceiling. (Photo by Nolan Locke)

Residents in The Olde who were experiencing heating or water outages were told to leave their apartments Friday afternoon. With only a few hours' notice, they were given rooms in Crossroads to stay in temporarily. However, with most of the dorms already filled to capacity, the only options were rooms on the east side of Crossroads, which are run down and normally left vacant each semester. Students who moved into these rooms found lamps without lightbulbs, wrapped up furniture, paint buckets and dirty showers. 

Grime-filled shower in Crossroads. (Photo by Nolan Locke)

These students were offered free meals at D-Hall until they could move back into The Olde. 

Elizabeth Elvira, assistant director at the multicultural center, and Johnathan Odea, the resident coordinator at Farside, were on standby to offer aid to students moving into Crossroads. Although there was uncertainty regarding how long The Olde would be closed off, Odea was optimistic about students returning to their apartments before the storm hit.  

Spare room in Crossroads (Photo by Nolan Locke)

“We are in the midst of inspections/repairs to the area in addition to preparing for the impending storm,” said Lukas Gunderson, the assistant director of quality assurance. 

Saturday evening, an email was sent out to students announcing that repairs had been completed, and heating had been restored to The Olde. Residents were allowed to return to their apartments, only to realize that their apartments were still cold, and their showers still didn’t have hot water. 

“There have been periodic check-ins from the same Facilities person to record the water temperature and heating, and we have noticed improvement,” said Emma Vaughan, a senior majoring in photography. “When we first moved back on Saturday, the issue was not resolved, and we didn’t have heat or warm water for days, so I am glad it’s much better now.” 

Vaughan was moved into Farside on Friday, then went back into The Olde Saturday night, where her apartment’s problems hadn’t been fixed. There was a leak in her ceiling caused by another leak in the apartment above hers. Additionally, since returning to The Olde, there have been several fire alarms in Vaughan’s apartment; some were caused by steam from the burst pipes in unoccupied temporary housing on H-Street. During these instances, the alarm would stay on until the fire department arrived. As of Jan. 28, staff continue to monitor temperature problems in the apartments. 

Bathroom in Farside (Photo by Emma Vaughan)

Facilities did not respond to requests for comment in a timely manner.

“Just to clarify, this issue didn’t begin this semester,” Vaughan explained, “it goes back to last semester when we sent multiple work orders because our shower was lukewarm and uncomfortable to use, and they told us it was because of the weather. I believe the issue was ignored until it became so bad that half The Olde had to be evacuated. This should have been addressed months ago, or at least fixed over winter break.”

Shower in Farside (Photo by Emma Vaughan)

The Fire Department Inspecting an Apartment at The Olde (Photo by Emma Vaughan)