Editor’s Note: This is a guest commentary. The opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial board.
Moving into your dorm, decorating your room and reconnecting with friends is an experience that’s etched in the memory of every student. Moving in can be a physically draining and sweaty process. It’s summer after all; the dorms have no air conditioning and most don’t have elevators. After a long day of settling in, a shower is a great way to destress and de-sweat. For the residents of the second floor of Terrace 6 (T6) however, the only comfort they were met with in their showers was in the form of ice-cold water. As students, we understand that communal dorm showers may not be the epitome of luxury, but we expect basic needs to be met.
My roommate, who moved in early for orientation, informed me that the second floor of T6 had been dealing with this issue since she moved in two weeks prior. On Aug. 13, a week before the upperclassmen moved in, my RA submitted a maintenance request about the cold showers, and Aug. 15 she met with the Office of Facilities in person to discuss the issue. The shower water remained ice cold. The moment I stepped out of the shower, shivering, after moving in Aug. 20, my mom and I both submitted maintenance requests. Eight days later, on Aug. 28, the residents of T6 finally received an email from our residence director explaining to us that a request to fix the showers was made Aug. 25 and Facilities addressed it that day. And yet, the showers were still cold.
On the same day we received that email, one of the two washers in our building broke down. My RA submitted a maintenance request that day to fix it. On Sept. 4, I submitted a second maintenance request. Seven days later, she submitted a third. Three days after that, I submitted a fourth and maintenance finally fixed the washer. For over two weeks, 70 students had the use of only one washing machine. It was untenable.
After badgering from angry parents and students, the response we received about the cold showers was far from satisfactory. My RA told us to try going upstairs or downstairs to a different floor to shower, but for those of us who felt uncomfortable walking through the building in towels and robes or using unfamiliar bathrooms, this was hardly a solution.
On Aug. 28 and 30, my RA called Facilities once again about the persistent cold showers and emphasized the urgency of the matter. It remained unfixed. On Sept. 14, I submitted yet another complaint. That same day, the RA met with Facilities in person yet again to convey the urgency of the situation. That night, we received a message that Facilities would be coming to fix the showers the following morning.
It wasn’t until Sept. 20, more than a month after the problem was discovered, that I was finally able to take a hot shower, marking the end of this prolonged ordeal. However, my hot shower was not the result of Facilities fixing the problem, but a trick I learned from my roommate: If you run the right shower while showering in the left, the water will be hot. If you turn on the middle or left by themselves, the water will be lukewarm. And you don’t shower in the right — it’s always cold.
At first, the showers were ice cold. A couple of weeks later the water gradually oscillated between freezing and lukewarm. After trial and error, I found that running the shower for 15 minutes before getting in made the water oscillate between warmer lukewarm and colder lukewarm rather than the two extremes. That, at least, was tolerable enough to stand in without stepping out. And now, after one month, we run two showers every time we shower. Running that much water is not a solution and is extremely bad for the environment.
It’s not just about the inconvenience of cold showers or broken washers. It’s about the principle of it all. As students, we invest time, energy and financial resources into our education. We should be able to expect a reasonable standard of living. It’s not too much to ask for functioning showers and it’s certainly not too much to expect a timely resolution when issues arise.
Ithaca College recently installed a soft serve frozen yogurt machine in the Terrace Dining Hall. Don’t get me wrong, I love frozen yogurt, but I’d rather have had the college prioritize fixing our showers first.
Meira Duftler (she/her) is a sophomore Advertising, Public Relations, and Marketing Communications major. Contact her at [email protected].
