The senior woodframe houses have recently been facing a myriad of serious repair problems, from back porches caving in to banisters and windows falling into disrepair.
We would first of all like to applaud Physical Plant for fixing many of these student-reported problems in woodframe houses so quickly and efficiently. Physical Plant’s system for reporting repair problems has both online and call-in options, and it is in general easy to use and results with problems solved as quickly as possible. We would also like to applaud the Physical Plant staff, who in general are extremely friendly and helpful when working in students’ homes.
The Physical Plant staff and their system for repair in response to student reports, however, is not the problem; rather, it’s the woodframes’ slow and consistent fall into disrepair. Although Physical Plant’s system efficiently deals with immediate serious problems such as caving-in porches, broken banisters and lights, their current system seems to lack concern for the long-term care and upkeep of the woodframes. Although there is apparently a summer check conducted by Physical Plant staff, what problems do they look for? It seems as if many serious problems were not caught until students this fall noticed them.
According to Associate Vice President for Facilities Joyce Topshe, they were also expecting many of the woodframes to be in need of serious repair this fall due to the fact that they were more than 25 years old. If this is the case, however, why weren’t more renovations or upkeep done on the woodframe houses in preparation? The summer checks Physical Plant conducts on the houses could be more thorough, but Physical Plant staff could also leave reports on the houses they check, which let students know as they move in about persistent problems within the house so they can be aware of them. This not only concerns students’ comfort in their houses, but also their safety.
Further, the fact that houses in view of tour routes such as those on Cross Street get fresh coats of paint while other houses face much more serious structural and equipment problems, not to mention peeling paint on their exteriors, demonstrates a misdirecting of resources. We understand the University must keep up appearances, but the University’s number one priority for improving student housing should involve assuring the safety and comfort of students in every housing facility, not just those in view of the tour groups.
Both Physical Plant and students should take more notice of smaller problems in woodframe houses such as poor conditions of wood floors, decks, and paint. Most of these homes were once occupied by families who cared about them; both Physical Plant and students should remember this and treat their woodframes less like temporary housing and more like homes.
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