After many years it is typical for an establishment to experience malfunction and need renovation. Therefore, when an establishment is built in 1884, over a century ago, it is given that renovation is a necessity.
If several academic facilities of Northwestern State University of Louisiana are currently being renovated, should on-campus housing buildings be renovated too?
On-campus housing at NSU is currently managed by a third-party company called Campus Living Villages. CLV is responsible for maintaining the three housing options including University Columns, University Place and Varnado Hall Residential College for the Dear School of Creative and Performing Arts housing at NSU.
Stephanie Dyjack, general manager of CLV at NSU, elaborates on the reasoning for providing students with separate options.
“We offer three different residential communities and various unit types and price points to allow students to choose the option that best fits their needs and budget,” Dyjack said.
University Columns offers two or four bedroom apartment options, which both include a full kitchen space. University Place offers two-bedroom apartments with a partial kitchen and the option for private or shared bedrooms. Lastly, Varnado Hall offers students a shared bedroom with communal bathrooms and kitchen.
Linsey Purvis, freshman radiology sciences major, is a resident of University Columns.
“I feel like the dorm comes with everything that I need, it’s spacious and comes with a kitchen, a living room, and I have my own room,” Purvis said. “I do commonly have issues with my current housing though.”
Though Purvis is overall satisfied with her housing, there is always room for improvement. Purvis commonly experiences issues such as internet troubles and water maintenance issues.
“It feels like they shut off the water constantly,” Purvis said. “It’s so annoying in my opinion, I don’t understand why they have so much trouble with maintaining things.”
Dyjack stresses CLV does their best to manage issues such as Purvis’.
“While we cannot control power outages or disruption to water supply, it is important that we have a response plan to address these types of issues,” Dyjack said.
Donald Mckinnies, a senior majoring in electrical engineering technology and University Place 2 resident assistant, described the responsibilities of handling student issues as an RA.
“If anyone is having problems they come to us, sometimes we won’t be able to fix it but we know who to go to,” Mckinnies said.
Mckinnies explained the most common issues he sees from UP2 residents.
“Lately we’ve had a lot of issues with the fobs not working, other times we have had washers, toilet issues, ever since the freeze the waters have been really messed up and that’s most of it,” Mckinnies said.
UP2 staff typically has an abundance of maintenance issues but has seen an increase since the cold front earlier this year.
“Maintenance is pretty much one of the most common questions we get, and we tell them all the same thing, usually if it’s a maintenance thing you just put in a request online and there’s certain steps to complete the form,” Mckinnies said.
Davon Dickerson, freshman hospitality management and tourism major and Varnado Hall desk worker, shared the most common issues which residents of Varnado Hall experience.
“Electric issues, water issues, stuff like that, we would have residents fill out a maintenance request,” Dickerson said. “I’d say we get those pretty often, most of the time it’s the washing machines and dryers, they can be really iffy.”
Dyjack encourages students who experience issues such as these to utilize the maintenance request system as well.
“We encourage residents to utilize the online work order system to alert our maintenance team to any issues within their apartment or the residential community that needs to be addressed,” Dyjack said.
Though residents of UP2 and Varnado Hall commonly have universal maintenance issues, Nicole Curry, sophomore psychology major and University Columns RA, claims the same is not true in her experience.
“I don’t see residents coming to us about one specific concern or thing very often except maybe roommate disputes,” Curry said.
Though roommate issues are more common than maintenance issues in University Columns, this does not go to say there are void.
“I can’t count how many pipes have burst at this property leaving us without hot water or even water in general for hours or even days in a case or two,” Curry said.
However, Curry feels any issues that arise are properly handled by housing staff.
“I see daily how dedicated the housing team is to all of these residents and it makes me feel heard and very important to them,” Curry said.
Curry expressed that it is only natural for housing to need renovation.
“These dorms have been lived in for many decades, but in some cases the dorms need a major revamp to not only look more pleasing but to also add better functionality,” Curry said. “I think the biggest improvement could be seen with upgrades within the dorms.”
To express any housing concerns, students may complete the CLV satisfaction survey which is conducted at the end of every semester.
“This is an important opportunity for residents to provide feedback on what we are doing that they would like us to continue, what they would like to see us change, and anything else they would like to share,” Dyjack said.
Dyjack shared that her door is always open, and is always open to discussing any concerns with residents.
