With the beginning of another semester at Trinity comes move-in day, where students can discover the new quirks of dorm life. For some students, these eccentricities turned out to be quite the horror story.
During her long move-in day, Peyton Tabor, senior biochemistry and molecular biology and Spanish double-major, said she discovered around twelve broken and damaged appliances in her City Vista (CV) apartment, including her desk, toilet and tub.
“The toilet comes off the wall a little bit. The desk has wood that, it breaks off,” Tabor said. “There’s like 12 different issues, and I’m like, ‘should I send them all in one work order? Should I send them in separate work orders?’ I just, it’s a disaster.”
That night, Tabor said carpenter ants emerged from her window and spread throughout her bedroom, covering the wall near her window and the quilt on her bed. Tabor discovered the ants coming from a gap in her windowsill that had not been caulked. She covered the gap with tape, resolving the issue.
“It was a disaster. I could have done a mouse. But little, tiny bugs that I can’t see without my glasses?” Tabor said. “And just, I could feel them crawling all over me and they’re flying,” Tabor said. “Oh, if they weren’t flying. You could see them get off the wall and then go on the blanket and then across to the other wall. I’m like, ‘Oh my God, oh my God.’”
Tabor wasn’t the only person with uninvited insect roommates. Caitlyn Rodriguez, junior communication and marketing double-major, reported that her CV apartment also had a bug problem. Upon move-in, she said she found live silverfish and cockroaches around her apartment. She noticed dead cockroaches in the lights in her bathroom, bedroom and hallway. Rather than calling in a work order, which she said would take too long, she had her father remove the bugs.
“I didn’t want to see them; they were big roaches that were dead in the light. I don’t know if they were alive. I walked out of the room when he took them out of the light, so I really don’t know if they were alive or not. He said they were dead, probably to make me feel better,” Rodriguez said. “I would turn on the light and I was like, ‘Why is it kind of dark in here?’ And I looked up and I was like, ‘Oh no, this ain’t gonna work for me.’”
From broken utilities to full-on infestations, bugs aren’t the only frights that students reported during move-in. Elise Cauley, junior neuroscience major, mentioned maintenance and accessibility issues in Susanna Hall. Cauley recently had ankle surgery and was on crutches during move-in, but because Susanna has no elevator, she was forced to use the stairs to move her things into her dorm.
“I had to get all of my stuff up the stairs on crutches. I had to get so many people to help me. I couldn’t move anything myself. It was totally crazy,” Cauley said. “You know how there’s never enough [moving carts] … not only were there none of those, we couldn’t even use them, because [Susanna] doesn’t have an elevator, and I’m on the second floor.”
In an email interview, Dylan Pflum, Upper-Division Residential Life Coordinator, said that Residential Life has not received specific complaints about the lack of an elevator in Susanna before. However, she said the best way to address the accessibility issues in Susanna would be to install an elevator in either Susanna, Myrtle or Isabel if the University does dorm renovations in the coming years. Until then, Trinity has Americans with Disabilities Act accessible rooms on the ground floors in many residence halls.
After a long day of unpacking in the Texas heat, Cauley said she and her suitemates discovered that the shower was broken that night. Maintenance resolved the issue the following day, though Cauley said she was disappointed at not being able to shower before attending class. Besides her broken shower, she expressed that Susanna was dirty throughout the hallways and her dorm room that the floors left her and her roommates’ feet black. Pflum wrote that Residential Life does conduct walk-throughs prior to students’ arrival to ensure cleanliness and address any major facilities concerns. He said that the hallways likely became dirty during the move-in process, as the floors “looked to be in good shape” during his walk-through.
“I was walking so far in the heat, on crutches for the first time, I have this huge boot on. It was just a total nightmare. And so I’m, of course, sweating so much. Jesus Christ. Texas is 100 degrees,” Cauley said. “We go to take a shower … [and the] shower doesn’t work.”
Cauley said her move-in experiences were “a nightmare.” While you can caulk a windowsill or mop the dorm floors, the accessibility issues in Susanna, will likely take more time.
Pflum wrote that the best way for students to remedy these issues is to submit work orders for any facilities-related concerns and to reach out to their Residential Life Coordinator to follow up on ongoing concerns or further issues. For now, this chapter of move-in horror stories must come to a close — ‘till next year.
*An interview with Facilities Services is scheduled for the end of this week, and updated information will be published online.
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