By KAYLEA BROWN, Senior Reporter
Student behavior, broken equipment make doing laundry difficult in dorms
The cycle of malfunctions and repairs of washing and drying machines in the residence halls on Northwestern’s campus is never-ending.
Matt Adair, Northwestern’s housing director, said this is one of the most common complaints the head residents of the dorms hear about.
“As far as things most often used that people would notice immediately if it’s not working properly, it’d be washers and dryers, ice machines and lobby televisions,” Adair said.
Some residents have complained about washers and dryers that are not working. Others say they are frustrated that some people who use the machines don’t move their clothes after they’re done, blocking other students from using the limited number of machines available.
“My biggest problem is actually kind of a tie,” said Camille Soderstrom, a 21-year-old senior English education major from Bartlesville living in South Hall. “People will just take your laundry out of the dryer, even if it’s still drying, or they’ll take it out of the washing machine and just leave it there to sour. … It’s a tie between that and how often either a washer breaks down or a dryer breaks down, and then it’s just left there for a week before maintenance gets to it.”
REPAIRS DELAYED
The process of fixing washers and dryers takes longer than some other repairs because of parts, Adair said. When a maintenance request comes in, the maintenance crew evaluates the problem, determines what needs to be replaced and then orders parts.
The current delay in the repairs of washers and dryers comes from the time it takes for the parts to be delivered, Adair said.
Not all residence halls have the same number of washers and dryers. Adair said the number of washers and dryers in each dorm was determined by the maintenance crew and the director of maintenance based on the availability of electricity and drain lines.
Adair said the maintenance crew replaces between eight and 10 washers and dryers every year.
COMMON COMPLAINTS
Tanner Hamilton, a 20-year-old sophomore from Tulsa majoring in health and sports science, said he has had to go to a different floor in his dorm, Ament Hall, to find working laundry machines.
During Hamilton’s first year at Northwestern, one washer was out of commission for a month. In the fall 2021 semester, a washer on the third floor was also broken.
Hamilton said he thinks having more washers and dryers in the dorms would be helpful, but he has not had much trouble finding a washer or dryer available.
Fryer Hall resident assistant Brianna Berryman, a 23-year-old senior biology health science major from Guthrie, said machine availability is one of the issues she faces when doing laundry in the dorms. She said it’s also one of the complaints she hears the most from residents.
Berryman said she sets a timer to remind herself when her laundry will be done. Then, she gets her clothes out of the washer or dryer so other students can use the equipment.
“For some odd reason, there’s always someone who doesn’t put their [room] tag out, and they’ll leave their clothes in there forever,” Berryman said.
Coronado Hall resident Rosco Setzer, a 20-year-old junior agriculture education major from Chelsea, said he has also had issues with laundry machine availability. Setzer said drying his clothes can take hours because the dryers cannot handle large loads of laundry.
Coronado has two separate rooms on the third floor for laundry. One room has five washers, and the other has seven dryers. Right now, one dryer is not working because it has a broken “start” button. Another spins, but it does not heat up.
WHAT STUDENTS CAN DO
Laney Neal, a South Hall resident assistant and a 20-year-old sophomore nursing student from Fort Worth, Texas, said this is one of the complaints she hears the most from other residents in South Hall.
Neal said the dryers on the second floor of South Hall take a long time to dry clothes regardless of how many clothes she has in at one time.
Neal said students should notify resident assistants about broken machines.
“If one of them is broken, you need to come tell the RAs,” Neal said. “We can’t know if every washer and dryer is broken without being told.”
