Dorm restrooms cause for concern

Residents of the Los Cerritos dorms voiced concerns regarding the condition of several restrooms at a recent Senate meeting. Tracey Roman/Online Forty-Niner

 

By Starr T. Balmer
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer

Housing residents complained last week about various problems in the Los Alamitos and Los Cerritos dormitories.

Michelle Patrick, a freshman student living in the Los Alamitos dorms, said that there were inadequate showers and broken urinals.

According to Patrick, one shower had decent water pressure while the others did not. Many of the girls rushed to use that one shower, which made it difficult to use, Patrick said.

Patrick also said that some of the urinals did not flush.

Los Cerritos resident Molly Shaw complained about the screens on the windows.

"Some of the screens on the windows are old and are falling off," she said.

Brooke Nakagawa, a freshman also living in the Los Alamitos dorms complained that students filled out maintenance forms but have not received any feedback.

Patrick, Nakagawa and other students had an opportunity to speak about these problems at a Senate meeting.

Director of Housing and Residential Life, Stan Olin, said there were problems earlier in the year such as a broken shower head and trash collectors arriving too early in the morning, but he was unaware of the current problems in the Los Alamitos and Los Cerritos dorms. Since Olin has been informed about the issues, he is willing to listen to the students and fix the problems. "I want to make sure we take care of it," Olin said.ASI Senator-at-Large, Hironao Okahana attended the Senate meeting and listened to the students' complaints.

He said he toured the Los Alamitos dorms and agreed that it needed some improvements and is in the process of fixing these problems.

"The housing fee has been increased in the duration of the past two years and I believe Housing and Residential Life is making an effort to provide students with the standard service that they demand," Okahana said.

Okahana also said he suggested to Olin to create a housing advisory board for students to speak about various issues and needed improvements in the dorms.

"I believe it would be in the best favor of the Housing and Residential Life office to form an advisory board without delay, so there would be an institutional structure to have direct voices from students to help him achieve his duty to provide for what on-campus housing students desire," he said.