Three days ago, a big spider jumped on me in the bathroom for the second time in two weeks. This is becoming a most disturbing trend, and I must say that I am starting to dislike it. But the spiders are only symptomatic of a larger problem at Brandeis: poor dorm maintenance.
Now, I don’t mean to denigrate the contributions of the Brandeis maintenance staff, who work very hard for very little reward. They’re nice people (one of them smiled at me in the stairwell the other day). And they do their best. But because there is a disconnect between dorm residents and the maintenance people, the facilities crew are often unaware of the problems.
I live in one of the most dilapidated buildings on campus, The Castle. Despite all its quirky secret rooms and staircases to nowhere, the Castle is gradually crumbling to bits. That’s unfortunate. I would like to help rectify this situation if I can. And since I just so happen to be in a position of massive unbridled power (Castle Quad Senator!) I am now actually trying to do this.
So, I joined the Student Union Campus Operations and Working Group. They’re one of the best Union committees, because they actually do real, concrete things, and are not just a pointless bureaucratic mess. The Operations Group works with the maintenance department to fix things that are wrong with buildings, and help make your dorm as livable and non-horrible as possible. We tell them what students are having problems with (e.g. the bathroom is filled with jumping spiders), and they try their best to resolve things.
What I want to know is this: WHAT NEEDS IMPROVING? I’m now in a prime position to reach people with the actual power to change things, so I’d really appreciate it if you could let me know. If you don’t, the buildings will continue to rot and fall apart, and you’ll have only yourselves to blame.
So what’s wrong with your building/quad/school? I’m anxious to get fixin’.
Also I’ve noticed the spider problem, too. A thick black one was in my bed, and really hard to kill. I just hope there isn’t a nest of them somewhere under the carpeting or in the corner or in my bedframe or wherever.
In our ziv, all the walls are cream, and all the ceilings are white. DOESN’T MATCH!!!!!
It’s great that you can work through the Student Union to get Brandeis to fix things, but if you’re worried specifically about the cleanliness of your hall it would probably be more effective to try talking to your custodian. It can be difficult to talk to them because you only see them in passing but I encourage you to try because most custodians really do want to make the dorms look as nice as possible, and they appreciate suggestions.
As a member of Brandeis Labor Coalition, over the last couple years I have been keeping track of the custodial situation on campus to ensure that custodians are treated fairly by management. One of the campaigns we are working on this year involves finding ways to get students to interact with custodians more and recognize how much they contribute to the campus. Anybody have any ideas? What do you want to know about your custodian?
By the way Nathan, I believe the custodians in the Castle are Anabela in A and B Tower, and Francisca in C and D tower. Next time you see them introduce yourself.
The geodesic dome in front of my school is missing… can you fix that?