Every year alumni, private donors, and Lawrentians (as part of tuition) shell out large amounts of cash to be used in residence life maintenance. It doesn’t appear that way, however: patchy window screens, shower curtains for closet doors, bathroom windowsills covered with dead bugs.and the list goes on. It is quite obvious that the maintenance of dorms is not as high on the administrative priority lists as perhaps it should be, made apparent by the conglomeration of peeling paint and vomit-stained carpet that is Sage Hall. For a university with such high academic standards, Lawrence is surprisingly nonchalant in regards to the quality of residence halls. Truly, the university takes great strides to ensure that students are getting their money’s worth out of college intellectually (which, of course, is the number one reason for attending school in the first place)-but when it comes to basic comforts such as a clean, pleasant living environment, Lawrence falls short.
For example, many Ormsby residents are having trouble getting a good night’s sleep, as thinly-curtained rooms facing New Science Hall are ineffective in softening the 24 hour light emanating from the building. Students have a difficult enough time sleeping as it is without having this factor against them. It doesn’t seem like would be a very costly problem to solve, either.
Students simply function better in a clean, aesthetically pleasing setting. The administration should realize that its students deserve as high quality of an environment as an education. While some problems are larger than others, the “simple things” that Lawrence lacks are relatively inexpensive and would improve residence life tremendously. We hope the administration reviews its policies of regarding both the large and small details of residence maintenance.