Brian Clemmenson
Equinox Staff
In the third-floor laundry room in Holloway a student walks in and sees people hanging out while their laundry is in the dryer. Fifty minutes are on the cycle and you wonder why?
The reason is simple: Holloway residents in the third-floor laundry room are protecting their laundry from harm.
Skylar Beddie, a freshman, was hanging out in the laundry room on the Monday night of Hurricane Sandy and said he had just been another victim.
Beddie said, “It was just my comforter and sheets.” Beddie added, “This is first time it happened to me.”
Beddie and many others have been the victim of someone urinating on their laundry on the third floor. Beddie was only two minutes late to get his laundry and one or more persons struck.
Beddie also said, “It is probably a group of friends in my opinion.” Beddie was not the only victim of the day; there was one other.
Many residents are upset because they have to spend more money to rewash and there is no guarantee that the smell would come out according to a few female residents. Beddie added, “I have spent $12 on laundry today,” as it was his third time doing laundry.
According to Beddie and a few other friends, they have told their Resident Assistants; however they have not said anything to the Resident Director.
One Resident Assistant, who wanted to remain unnamed said, “The first time I found out about it I documented it.”
The Residential Director of Holloway did not comment and referred all questions to the Office of Residential Life.
Another victim from the beginning of the semester, freshman Ellie Marshall said, “My laundry was in and I asked my roommate to take it out and then she called me.”
She received a phone call from her roommate telling her that her clothes had been urinated on. Her roommate washed it again, and did a lot of things. Marshall thought the smell was removed then discovered it was not.
Marshall said, “We had a mysterious smell in the room for a while. We didn’t know what it was and it was the pee from the student who is peeing on people’s clothes.”
Marshall and her roommates think it is a male. Marshall has been affected this twice this semester.
Marshall stated, “Our RA said that they cannot afford a camera and we are going to make a sign saying that this is going to be recording.”
As a result of the incidents in the third floor laundry room, the room is currently closed. There is no timetable for when it will reopen. These aren’t the only damages that have occurred in Holloway Hall this semester involving a laundry room. The second floor laundry room is also out of service. On Oct. 27 there was the discovery of fire extinguisher discharge all over the room. Since this incident the room has remained closed. The resident assistant who documented the incident would not comment.
There is currently one working laundry room on the first floor with four washers and four dryers in Holloway. A resident who did not want to be named said, “It is a real inconvenience because now we all have to use one laundry room for the entire dorm.”
The damages in the laundry room weren’t the only damages in Holloway during the month of October. According to an email sent out by the Resident Director to all residents, on Oct. 19 during Pumpkin Lobotomy the Great Hall was damaged as there were pumpkins, pumpkin guts, seeds, carving materials and garbage all over the floors. The cost of that cleanup was $192.
The cost of the third-floor laundry cleanup was $32 for urine in a dryer and $210 for the cleanup of the fire extinguisher all over the second floor laundry room. The total of all of the charges total $434.
In the student handbook in the section of Residence Hall Damages, common area damages stated, “Common area damages are charged to the student deemed to be responsible for the damage.”
In cases where responsibility for the damage cannot be determined all of the residents of the damaged area will divide the cost of repairs evenly.” According to the Office of Residential Life, there is a capacity of 360 residents in Holloway. If divided equally a resident would be responsible for $1.21.
Many residents are not happy with having to pay for something that they didn’t do. Ashley Waterman, a freshman said, “I’m really upset that I have to pay for it. I didn’t do anything.”
However, one resident Gabby Boyce, who had her laundry urinated on said, “I think if no one comes forward the community has to pay for it. It sucks, but that is how living in a community works.”
This is not the first that some damages have happened in Holloway according to The Equinox in a May 2012 story by Cam King, Holloway over the span of one semester racked up over $1,500 in damages.
The official figures for the damages in Holloway have not yet been released according to associate director of facilities Jim Carley; those numbers should be available next semester.
Brian Chemmenson can be contacted at bclemmenson@keene-equinox.com.