Photo courtesy of Veronica Wakefield

For the past two years, Hofstra’s Fall Festival occurred on some of the rainiest weekends of the year. While most were getting ready for the Saturday festivities, I, and many other Bill of Rights residents, were dealing with a leak. Not only did the leak flood my room, but it also caused one of my ceiling tiles to fall. Everything that occurred could have been prevented if Hofstra Public Safety had done something the first time I called.

The leaking started on the previous Sunday, Sept. 24, around 6 p.m. I was having dinner with my friends when we noticed a few droplets coming from my ceiling. I texted my RA and she quickly contacted Public Safety. One of the Public Safety officers did come over to look at it, but nothing else happened. It stopped soon after and didn’t leak until Friday.

That’s when the chaos began. That morning, I woke up to the sound of water dripping on my floor around 7:45 a.m. I tried calling the emergency line, but it wasn’t available until 9 a.m. which defeats the purpose of calling it an emergency line. So instead, I submitted a work order and waited until I could call.

I spoke with a woman who told me that someone would be over to look at the leak as soon as possible. Apparently, as soon as possible wasn’t until over two hours later. By this point, the leak had gotten significantly worse. Over time, two different men came to look at the leak.

The first man seemed incredibly annoyed that he had to look at the leak. He stayed for a second to look at it and then said he had to check if it was coming from the kitchen above me. I never saw him again.

The next man came 30 minutes later and was the opposite of the first. He noticed a crack and said that the ceiling tile needed to be removed. I decided to step out to grab something to eat. They said it was fine for me to leave because they had the key. When I came back, there was a work notice on my door. I thought that meant they would come back, so I waited.

By 5 p.m. my entire floor was covered in water, so I called again. I was told the same exact thing – someone would be over as soon as possible – and again, I waited for hours. That’s when I noticed the dip in the tile. After that, the tile continued to dip more and more.

Once it was hanging from one side, I demanded Public Safety put me in a new room because it was over my bed. The minute I was about to leave, the tile fell. I was moved to Nassau Hall – which wasn’t in much better condition. There was black mold on the shower curtain and dead bugs all over the room.

Over the next six days, I would go back to my room daily to see if anything was fixed, and each day my tile was still on the ground. On the sixth day, I called to see when my room would be fixed. They never gave me a set day; they just said they would look. Instead of Public Safety telling me my room was fixed, I had to find out from my roommate.

Over the course of nearly 14 hours, I watched my room be flooded and my ceiling tile fall. After that, I was put in a crummy room that obviously hadn’t been cleaned since the last resident was there. So, here’s what I don’t understand–why am I paying around $70,000 for tuition and housing each year to be put in rooms that are falling apart? What’s my money going to? For the amount I’m paying to live in these dorms, I shouldn’t be ignored by Public Safety over something that’s considered an emergency.

No student is going to feel safe if this is how we’re treated by those who are supposedly employed to provide safety. I understand that many other students needed tending to, but considering that I was told they’d arrive shortly, this experience was ridiculous. A more streamlined and safer system needs to be put in place so students can feel secure in their own dorms.