Our dear Lamson and Meier halls. You have served us a great purpose during our time at Andrews. Thank you for helping keep us warm, cool, connected, loved, and most importantly clean. We have made many memories in your dorms from watching sports games, decorating your rooms, and running around the halls. However, we think that some improvements need to be made to make our time at Andrews better. Oh our dear Lamson, you have been around for a long time, since 1946 (Jennifer Burrill, Assistant VP for Residence Life). You are breaking and falling apart and there are many things that need to be fixed to help us enjoy our time at AU more. However, Meier, you were built in 1964 so there are significantly fewer complaints about you. Our dear residence halls, here are some requests and stories that we, the student body, would like to share with you to consider for our future at Andrews.
My first semester of freshman year, I was going through my nightly routine before bed. I was brushing my teeth, when I rested my hand on the edge of the sink in my room. I suddenly felt the sink fall under the pressure, as it ripped out from the wall. I was so shocked! I had simply rested my hand there. I contacted my RA about it and she told the Dean. In fairness, the Dean was quite helpful and contacted maintenance for me and it was fixed in under a week. - Reagan McCain (junior, history & Spanish)
I came early to school my sophomore year because I was on the Cardinal soccer team. At first, my sink was working fine. But, after several days I noticed that it wouldn't drain. So I contacted maintenance to try and fix it. But they never came. On the first Friday night of the semester, my roommate and I were getting ready for bed when all of a sudden water started coming up from the drain and leaking all over our counter and onto the carpet. Our stuff underneath the sink got wet. We immediately contacted the dean and she contacted maintenance. Maintenance came in promptly and drained all the water out to temporarily fix it. The next week, they had to turn off the water for the whole dorm to fix the real issue. - Katie Davis (junior, social work)
Some students, such as Aubreyanna Scollard (junior, speech pathology), have also voiced their concern about deep cleaning all the vents and showers . Since Lamson is one of the oldest buildings on campus, we should take care of it better and not let it rot. Along the same lines, getting rid of all the mold is a very popular request amongst many girls, such as Denisse Hirujo (senior, architecture) and Gabby Schmidt (sophomore, social work). Samanatha Hunt (sophomore, graphic design) mentioned how heat adjustments for the suites would also be a nice addition and help keep students warm during the winter.
Last year, as a freshman, there was mold in my heater. I didn’t turn my heater on for the whole entire year because the stench was terrible. If my roommate didn’t have a heater, then I don’t know how I would have survived the cold winters. The only request I make is that you fix the mold in the heaters… well, actually the mold in the rooms - Ariana Hughes (sophomore, speech pathology)
On the other hand, it's frustrating that we can’t control our own temperature. At the beginning of the semester, it's really hot and during the winter time it's warm. But just before fall comes, they don’t turn on the heater, so it gets super cold during that period of time. One suggestion that I have is to have ID access to our rooms instead of keys. When you lose your keys it's a $75 charge. However, having ID access to our rooms will save a lot of money and time and allow the students to have fewer things to keep track of. Another suggestion is to be able to rearrange our rooms more freely like the guys can in their dorm rooms. The room is very crowded because of all the additional furniture that we have which makes it hard to fit in all of our stuff on top of all the overcrowded furniture. - Arisbel Anglada (senior, speech pathology)
Meier is not that bad to be honest. I think Lamson needs to be fixed a lot more. The worst is that guys don’t clean up after themselves and some areas of the dorm can get really messy. But other than that, Lamson is the real issue that needs to be fixed. – Jake VanDenBurgh (junior, medical laboratory science)
I would like more study areas in the dorm. The washer and dryers are also not the best in Lamson, so maybe fix or get new appliances that won’t burn our clothes. And also fix the hot water for showers on the second floor. – Jhoana Mortera (junior, digital communication and marketing)
Let’s not mention the numerous fire alarms that occur throughout the year, activated by anything from dryers burning up clothes to somebody straightening their hair. The president of the university did mention last semester during the town hall meeting that there are plans to renovate Lamson over the summer. Overall, to take care of a residence hall, we must meet the needs of the students and create an environment for spiritual, academic, and emotional growth. If the place that we are living in is covered in mold, broken sinks, and not old furniture, then it is hard to thrive in a place that is far away from home. We also need to consider prospective students and what they see and hear about the dorm life. When high school students are looking for colleges, they are not just looking at the academics, but the living environment and what it will look like in the future if they live there. If they see a dorm that is covered in mold, broken sinks, and old furniture, then it is a hard deal breaker to come and attend the school. Andrews needs to consider this when it comes to improving Andrews as a whole.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.