As the sunlight beamed into the window of Adjoa Nyarko’s Meridian Hill Hall dorm room last Tuesday morning, the sophomore English major stumbled about in a frenzy, frustrated by the series of events she had been forced to endure.
Nyarko woke up, ready to begin her day with a steaming hot shower, but as she stepped into the shower nearest to her room, she was instead greeted with icy cold water.
“All I could do was call on the Lord and think about the people in Haiti dealing with worse,” said Nyarko, whose dorm room was nearly infested with rodents at one point in the fall semester. “But it wasn’t just an annoyance, it was an inconvenience. I had to go out of my way to find a way to heat up water that should be warm, on a floor without a working microwave!”
One floor up, sophomore audio production major, Justin Frazier felt Nyarko’s pain. For nearly an hour, Frazier ran the hot water faucet, hoping for even the slightest raise of the water temperature. Only more frigid, glacial water spurted out.
“I felt like going downstairs in my shorts and going off on whoever I could,” a visibly angry Frazier said. “A good shower sets the tone for your morning. You can’t just take a cold shower and expect to have a good day.”
For three days last week, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, Meridian Hill Hall’s hot water supply belied campus residence slogan, “Res Life is the best life.”
According to the Office of Residence Life, the hot water shortage in Meridian Hill Hall was due to a recent change to a digital gauge for the water heating system, intended to increase sustainability across Howard’s campus. It’s also part of the university’s initiative to join the “Going Green” movement.
The temperature gauge for Meridian’s water supply reset and went into a manual mode, which had to be reset by outside contractors. The “Going Green” movement has taken on many forms, but the most recent one has come with consequences that students are not at all fond of.
“We pay too much money to live in these residence halls to have to put up with this,” said Frazier. “There are other problems that I can deal with, but my hygiene isn’t something I ever want to play with. I don’t know who needs to step in, but something needs to be done.”
Residence life at Howard University is often filled with ups and downs. During the fall semester, The Hilltop reported that Slowe Hall residents experienced flooding and power outages. On Monday, The Hilltop reported that Drew Hall was also experiencing Internet and issues with their water too.
“Living in Meridian, I feel like I’m being cheated,” Nyarko said. “I feel like I’m in an abusive relationship and I can’t leave.”
The frustration of students living in the residence halls at Howard runs deep, but students are not the only ones dealing with the many inconveniences that occur in the dorms.
“I go through what the students go through,” said Kenyatta Hobson, community director for Meridian Hill Hall. “And I respond to the problems much more quickly than you can imagine.”
Hobson said he contacted Physical Facilities Management. They reset the gauge soon after the water was first noticed to be cold. But the setting did not hold until the contractor came out.
“Unfortunately, facility mishaps happen from time to time,” Hobson said. “I am certainly appreciative of the response of all parties in this matter, especially in a situation that involved water supply.”
Marc Lee, interim dean of Residence Life, has been working in residence life for ten years and has lived in almost every dorm on the campus. He argues the situation could be a lot worse.
“We have historic buildings,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that things break on a recurring basis, but after continuous use, it’s natural for mishaps to happen. Given the financial status of the university and the lack of resources we have in residence life, this has been a good year.”
Lee feels that students should be more appreciative of the things that the Office of Residence life has done and continues to do for them.
“We give support, encouragement and provide opportunities for the students that live in our facilities and those who do not,” said Lee. “These things are required for student success. We provide the community of this university.”
Some students like Nyarko don’t buy into that line of rationalization.
“Howard University students have become too complacent. Students need to take back some of the control,” said Nyarko. “If we change things now, it won’t just benefit us, it would benefit the future of Howard. That’s what really matters.”