Over the last few weeks, there has been a notable uptick in campus facilities breaking or not working as intended, and the Equinox feels concerned that if things do not get resolved soon, Keene State students may feel less inclined to continue attending this school.
One of the most notable instances recently is Pondside II-B going on its third week of not having hot water access throughout the building. Students have been told that if they want to take a hot shower, they should go to the Spaulding Gym. While it is true that the gym has hot water, the building itself is not protected by key-card access, meaning theoretically any person can enter the building and use those bathrooms. We feel that this is an issue that should have been taken care of not just as soon as it happened, but that it should have been something that the school checked for before letting students onto campus in August. It is cruel to tell them they must shower in the gym if they want hot water. If the issue is with the equipment not being good enough to fix the issue and that is why the fix is getting delayed, then why did facilities let its equipment get to be so old and in poor shape before it got to this point?
Facilities tell students constantly that if they want or need something repaired, they should fill out a maintenance ticket. These tickets, however, are not acknowledged when they are sent. We feel that in order to perhaps help students feel more encouraged to reach out and ask for help with issues they may be having on campus, more communication should be had on the side of facilities. When you submit a ticket, you only get a confirmation that the ticket was received—not that it was read, and there is no notification of when someone will be down to fix the issue. Students have expressed feeling caught off-guard by facilities staff coming to fix issues because they did not even know that their ticket was read.
Facilities also seem to blame students for issues rather than acknowledging the issues within the buildings. When the smoke detectors were going off in the Pondside buildings unexpectedly due to not being properly checked before the end of the summer, students were accused of smoking inside the buildings, having fans on inside of dorm rooms and leaving their windows open. When asked about certain issues, they would turn it back on the third-party contractors that the school uses. If facilities cannot hold themselves properly accountable for issues within the campus facilities, what does that say about the way the school is allowing things to be run?
If the issue truly lies with using third-party contractors, the school should not act like that is its only option. Keene State is home to a very large Construction and Safety Management major, and the Equinox feels that many students within the major would likely appreciate the hands-on work. If they didn’t want to do that, they could also offer internships for community college students or trade school students. There is no shortage of alternative choices to make, and if the argument is money, it would actually cost less to hire a few college students for internships than it would to continue using a third-party contractor.
We feel that at the very least they could have people come and properly check buildings, both dorm and academic, before the academic year begins. That would cost little to nothing, and yet we are shown that they do not care enough to do so. Continuing to put off issues or make small fixes before replacing the problem will only cost a lot more in the long run when things fully break.
If student retention is such a large issue that Keene State is worried about, they should take more care to fix things and not treat the students like they are an inconvenience for wanting to have hot water in dorm buildings and showers with working handles. Students should be submitting more tickets rather than being bystanders in issues around campus, but facilities should take more care to properly communicate with students, too.
