By Eric van den Berg
Students in Colonial Square residential halls are angry over the painting of their rooms, a job many say, could have been taken care of over the summer.
Maintenance staff employed by the Plant Department has already started working in Jamestown, Newport and Plymouth halls and other dorms may follow in the future, Larry Bloom, director of Sport Facilities and supervisor of residential maintenance, said.
The work was ordered by an unknown University employee, either a resident assistant or a member of the custodial staff who thought the rooms needed a new coat of paint, Bloom said.
Even though few students occupied the dorm halls this summer, University administration postponed the work until the fall semester. Residents say this is a hassle.
“It’s really inconvenient,” Sheena Anderson, whose Quincy Hall bathroom is about to be repainted, said. “What pisses me off is that it hasn’t been painted earlier. It should have been painted over the summer.”
Bloom said this would have been impossible.
“There’s no way to get it all done over the summer. We do 13 rooms a week. Every room is repainted once every three or four years. If you check the numbers, you’ll see: we can’t do this,” he said. Capacity is a problem for the Plant Department.
Bloom also said a large part of campus is occupied during a student’s absence. Student congresses are held, freshmen come in early and students attend summer classes. During summer months, even the New York Jets call the University home.
Everything is done to avoid unnecessary nuisance, Bloom said.
“We try to give [students] as much advance notice as possible,” he said.
Efforts are being made to contact students through multiple channels, namely e-mail and notes stuck to the door, to make sure that they are informed if their room will be painted.
“We also try to get them to sign off as they are notified,” Bloom said.
Even so, nothing short of a “valid medical reason” will stop the Plant Department from coming in, coating up and making students get out.
Many students realize getting their room painted is unavoidable and are making light of the situation.
“I don’t really mind. It will smell funny for a couple of days, but most of the time it smells like beer anyway,” a Williamsburg resident, whose room is to be repainted Oct. 7, said.