Laundry room woes are sparking a lot of talk among resident students.
Carlos Concha, a sophomore sports communications major and resident of Alumnae Hall, said dryers are often either full, forcing one to touch another student’s belongings, or the clothes are not dry after running the full 48 minutes in the machine.
“That’s kind of where the problem starts is when I come down, and it’s time to dry the clothes, the dryer situation has been an issue for the past two years that I’ve been here,” said Concha.
According to Concha, the process of drying is trying.
“You just have to redo it and find another dryer, and it is an unfortunate and inconvenient situation, and I hope that it can be fixed come spring semester,” said Concha.
Owen McDermott, a junior chemistry major and also an Alumnae Hall resident, said “it’s an absolute pain with constantly being full of people not coming getting their laundry on time or leaving the lint traps full-its aggravating.”
McDermott is concerned that the amount of lint in the traps is a fire hazard, and the closer it gets to break, he is more inclined to just wait until he gets home to do his laundry.
Kaydence Everitt, a sophomore healthcare administration pre DPT major and McGowan resident, said she has even stopped doing laundry on campus because she feels she doesn’t have enough time with her schedule considering how full said said the laundry room is.
“It was hard to find a time to do laundry with my schedule. Well not only that, and the fact that people touch your clothes is a big problem,” said Everitt.
McDermott agrees that because the laundry room is conjoined in two buildings there isn’t a time when students aren’t washing their clothes.
“I do my laundry at 8 a.m. on Saturdays because it’s somewhat empty. I want to sleep in on the weekends, not do my laundry. It’s the only time I can really get an empty washer and dryer,” said McDermott.
Students say students often leave clothes in the dryers, forcing them to remove other students’ clothes and either put them on top of the machines or on the floor.
“I really haven’t had that many issues overall with my clothes. What I’ve seen more is just an overwhelming amount of other people’s clothes on the floor, on the top of dryers [and] in dryers for a long period of time,” said Concha.
Concha feels that other students are making their laundry a low priority and making the room cluttered.
“There’s no priority to it. Everyone’s just letting their things just kind of go to waste out there. I kind of wonder what kind of clothes these people are wearing. How much clothes do they really have with them?”
Cleanliness of the machines is also a problem students are noticing. Everitt said she struggles to find washers that work, especially for large items like blankets and sheets.
“I tried doing my blankets and stuff and they weren’t even wet when I checked on them and honestly the washers smell, so I’m debating if my clothes are even getting clean,” says Everitt.
Concha says that the cleanliness of the laundry rooms needs the same amount of attention that the hallways and bathrooms are getting.
“I personally don’t feel like it is all that well kept because I know we do keep a very vigilant staff of cleaners in Alumnae and McGowan. I just hope when they go around and they clean everything that they give just as much priority to that laundry room as everywhere else because I know they do a great job,” Concha said.
Everitt also thinks the laundry room could be cleaner.
“I think it definitely could be cleaned more often. The lint traps are usually dirty and like there are usually clothes laying all over the floor or the floor is soaking wet,” she said.
Lint piling up in the traps is also a raising a fire concern to residents.
“I’m not quite sure that a lot of people know to clean out their lint traps when they’re done and beforehand, and that could really cause an issue because it is a fire hazard,” said Everitt.
McDermott sees lint as a big issue on the floor.
“It’s so packed on there I have to use my ID to scrape it off. I’m like this is why the fire alarms go off,” McDermott said.
However, Everitt notes that it is a benefit that the laundry rooms are available and free of charge.
“I will say the good parts about the laundry room are that it is accessible for students on campus and that it is free.”
McDermott agrees with Everitt about the perk.
“It’s tolerable. It’s what you got, but at least it’s free.”
Students also feel if the available sign-in whiteboard was utilized it would be a lot more helpful and aid to help students keep laundry work running more smoothly.
“I feel like it could definitely be helpful if it was more well promoted and well-advertised. Like when I walk in there that is probably the last thing I notice because it is on the side wall when you walk in, so I feel like if it was more just like in your face on the front door,” said Concha.
McDermott says he noticed that there is no marker down in the laundry room to be able to use it.
“There’s not a single marker down there. I was like, ‘oh cool no marker though so no one’s going to use it,’” McDermott said.
Alumnae and McGowan Halls are not the only resident buildings with issues in the laundry room. Sophomore undeclared Gildea Hall resident Andrew McGraw said he had a scare with another student taking his clothes from the dryer.
“My bin is still there but the laundry’s gone. So, I go to my CA. I’m like ‘Hey someone stole my laundry,’ and they didn’t know what to do. They’re not trained in laundry thieves,” said McGraw.
There was a mass email sent explaining that McGraw’s laundry was missing and the student who stole it was to return it immediately. Eventually a student came forward replying to the email and returned his clothes to the laundry room.
“I went and got it, but everything was returned except for one pair of shorts, my favorite pair of shorts. I don’t know who has it. It’s a trophy I guess,” McGraw said.
McGraw was worried he wouldn’t get his clothes back and would have to restart his wardrobe.
“I ended up calling my mom and asked her what to do, and she said go buy underwear off Amazon you can use my card. I’m like thank you, mom,” said McGraw.
Overall, Gildea students said lint left in the traps is their main concern.
“They’ll clean it out, but they’ll just put it on the ground in front of the machine. They won’t put it in the trash can so there’s just lint scattered all over the ground,” said McGraw.
Residents say clothes left on the floor are not as common in Gildea either, as the majority of residents will place the clothes on top of machines.
“Sometimes it looks like a war zone in there, but yeah, other than a little bit more cleanliness it’s not that bad,” McGraw said.
Residents feel that the laundry rooms are a benefit that could be improved.
“Overall, it’s not a horrible experience, but there is definitely a lot of room to improve,” Concha said.
