Pay Up, Res Life

By NICHOLAS NEGRON
Opinion Editor

I am not a happy camper. I have been living in Centennial Hall since late August of 2015. There has always been a hot water issue when it comes to our showers, sinks, dishwashers, and just about every other piece of equipment that the lovely Centennial Hall has to offer.
My specific bathroom has had cold, lukewarm at best, water for roughly a month now. The shower always had its sporadic days of misbehavior. But, this streak has been continuing for quite some time. I should not feel like I’m going under the cold water sprinkler of a bootleg water park while entering a Saint Rose shower. Unfortunately, I get free admission to this lackluster attraction, twice daily.
Now let us talk specifics: financial specifics. A Saint Rose student pays approximately $9,000 a semester to live in a four-person apartment in Centennial Hall. The building opened its unreliable doors to students in 2012. I say unreliable because the card-swipe system to get into the building can be faulty, leaving students freezing to the bone outside.
I am a student with loans, as most of the Saint Rose population is. The hard-earned dollars of my parents, and my own eventual paycheck, is going to a living in a building where a hot shower is not guaranteed. When I am home for breaks, it is never a guessing game as to whether I will have a long and luxurious steaming shower at the end of a long day.
Instead, I am left in angst, hoping that the water will stay barely warm enough for me to stick a bar of soap underneath my armpit without developing frostbite.
Did I contact Residence Life? You bet I did. I have had an area coordinator come to my apartment on two occasions and record water temperatures. My response from Res Life was simply that they are looking into alternative ways to providing the students of Centennial with hot water.
They have been “looking” for a long time. I do not really see a solution, other than fixing the initial problem. The option given to me was switching to another dorm on campus. That is not what I want. I signed up to live with my three good friends from freshman year in a fully functioning apartment. I will not be moving anywhere around camps. I will not be moving on campus.
What I really would like is a water bill refund. Several other students with hot water issues, preceding January, were awarded refunds for the inconvenience.
Where is my check, Res Life? It has been a solid month now without a real hot shower. At this point, I would be fine with Res Life providing a bucket of boiling water, and throwing it over my shivering body.
I want a refund, just like other students were given. I want my money for the month of March’s water bill. I am paying for what is not being provided to me. Occurrences like this are experiences that make students not want to give to the Saint Rose fund as a alumni. It sours the student’s experience.
Why am I going to donate to a school that doesn’t have hot showers… or clean dishes in the dining hall? Well, that is another matter. Regardless, I am upset and want the problem fixed.