Whitehouse has been a landmark of Albion College for over 60 years, and with its lifespan comes the need for repairs. From the washing machines to the elevator, problems in Whitehouse have continued.
Chelsea Ramdhan, a sophomore from Couva-Tabaquite-Talporo, Trinidad and Tobago, said when it comes to the washing machines, “at least one of them is always flooding, so there’s always a pool of water on the floor.”
Iowa City, Iowa junior Adah Bertling added that “it’s a big building that houses a lot of people, so the fact that sometimes we only have two washers makes it harder and more stressful.”
The laundry room isn’t the only communal issue in Whitehouse, Ramdhan said. The only elevator in the building has also been an “annoyance” due to constant breakdowns.
“In the past, when the elevator has broken down, because we get that a lot, within the space of like two or three days to a week it has started back working,” Ramdhan said on October 15. “But it has been down for the past two weeks and nothing has happened.”
As of Sunday, Whitehouse residents report the elevator is still out of order.
Ramdhan added that not only is the lack of an elevator a concern for disabled or injured students, but is also a detriment to resident’s day-to-day lives.
“I live on the third floor,” Ramdhan said. “Especially moving in and stuff, that was a problem, and at the end of fall break, I had to drag suitcases up the stairs.”
Dallas junior and fellow Whitehouse resident River Morelli added that the bathrooms and some dorm rooms in Whitehouse have also had recurring problems, with nobody responding to their own work orders.
“Specifically my room, the door has been broken, and I submitted a request form I think in September, and nobody has come to fix it,” Morelli said.
Morelli is not the only one who has experienced difficulties with work orders in Whitehouse.
“Work orders take forever to process,” Bertling said.
Bertling added that the water fountain on the ground floor “has not had a filter replaced since last year.”
Director of Community Living and Student Conduct Joey Koehn said that he wasn’t aware of any reasons why maintenance had not addressed any of the problems in Whitehouse. Koehn added that the laundry machines and elevators used in dorms are outsourced to another vendor. If there happens to be an issue, the maintenance crew has to call in the technician from that vendor to help fix it, a detail that “could impact the response time.”
“We would be more than happy to explore or get more details regarding the work order and provide additional information to provide students on why something may not be addressed in a timely manner,” Koehn said.
Maintenance Supervisor Jeff Watson also said he is “not sure” why there are issues regarding work orders in Whitehouse. According to Watson, as of 10/21, the oldest work order coming from Whitehouse was submitted on 10/18.
“If students are still having trouble, please send another work order in,” Watson said.
Watson added maintenance gets around five to 12 work orders per day for residence halls, and are usually fulfilled “within 24 hours, unless it’s something extensive.”
“We have an on-call 24 hours a day, so if any students have any ongoing issues that they didn’t have resolved, they should absolutely reach out,” Watson said.
If students have concerns involving work orders in any location, they can reach out to [email protected] or [email protected].
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