Resident students pay $22,800 for tuition, between $5,800 and $8,300 for housing, and $4,100 for a mandatory meal plan. We deserve some decent maintenance.
What are those little creatures called, the ones that greet some of the suites every morning in the bathroom?
“They’re [the bugs] gross, they’re everywhere” said DaSilva room 107 resident Mike O’Mahoney. These wingless pests seem to have taken up residence and claimed the bathroom as their territory. It is common to find a few daring silverfish journeying outside the confines of the restrooms and into the common areas and sleeping quarters. Shouldn’t pest extermination be a basic facet of residence life, especially considering the amount students have to shell out for living on campus?
DaSilva room 107 is particularly affected by poor maintenance, as the common area’s air conditioner, which also acts as a heater, is out of order. When winter rolls around, the creepy-crawly insects will most likely take up lodging in one of the neighboring suites, since the cold of the winter will definitely be felt in the common area.
When Eddie Hernandez, one of DaSilva 107’s residents, put in a request for the air conditioner to be fixed, he was told that they did not have the manpower required to repair it. Hernandez was told that an order for a portable air conditioner would be put in. Over four weeks have passed since that promise, and the room has yet to see any signs of a follow-up.
Things went from bad to worse on September 30, when maintenance screwed every room’s windows shut after a disturbance on the third floor, the rape that has been so publicized.
“I feel like we’re in jail,” complained Hernandez. “Our air conditioning is broken, and our windows are screwed. This has to be a fire hazard!”
DaSilva resident Michael Shove said, “I think it can definitely be a fire hazard. If the fire’s out in the hallway, you need a way to get out because the fire’s out there. You can’t go through the window because they’re bolted shut.”
To add insult to injury, St. John’s’ reputation as one of Intel’s Top Ten Most Unwired schools is amusing, as its dorms’ hard-wired internet connections chug along slower than dial-up.
Under normal circumstances, hard-wired connections are faster than wireless connections. Unfortunately, both connections seem to be on the same level as far as speed is concerned.
Until something is done to rectify these problems, DaSilva residents among others will simply have to bundle up for a cold winter and cope with a slow internet connection, because ultimately, it is up to maintenance if and when anything will be fixed.
