Summer brings with it many things: trips to the beach, concerts under the stars, ice cream cones, but if you're a resident of Kraettli Apartments, it brings another roofing project.
Beginning last Monday, at the bright and perky hour of 6 a.m., workers began their labor. For those who are not morning people, the thought of band saws, hammering and trucks backing up at the crack of dawn can make the most docile person have violent tendencies.
While I was able to register my complaint over the brutal opening day of another summer of roof work, it's now time to focus on other issues related to this journey.
Kraettli is where the university places families, international and graduate students as well as many members of the faculty and staff. You might think, then, that these apartments would be some of the best on campus. Well, if you think that, then you couldn't be more wrong.
The buildings are over 60-years-old and have absolutely no updates . I happen to live in one of the apartments that has a completely carpeted living room, but many, as they are vacated have had that carpeting removed or reduced, leaving these units with mostly tiled floors.
The heating and cooling systems are a joke. Each unit is attached to the others and we have no control over our heat or air; it's either on or it's off. We also run off of a chiller system, one in which water is used to determine the outside air temperature. If the water temperature goes above 60 degrees, then we get air conditioning, and if it drops below 60, we get heat. The furnaces in each unit are antiquated and blow more dust into my home than if I were to go outside, grab a bag of dirt and sprinkle it in the unit.
At this point, I have become accustomed to being the joke of the university or having to explain that Kraettli even exists on campus, but the thing that troubles me the most is to find out that Traditions East apartments are scheduled for maintenance. Students have been asked to relocate to other apartments for things such as cleaning and replacing carpeting, air duct cleaning, heating and cooling and other general repairs.
What? Are you kidding me?
Somebody at the University needs to reassess their priorities. Why would buildings that are only a few years old being getting updates and maintenance such as Traditions East when most residents at Kraettli are living sub-standard conditions and cannot even have a plant outside their front door without having it confiscated by maintenance because it's a violation of the lease?
I love living on campus, but I only live at Kraettli because I have to. I am an out-of-state student and I make student wages, but I do not feel that the university has any respect for me or my neighbors when we are constantly pushed aside to accomodate the needs of undergraduates. For those residents of Traditions East who felt inconvenience by the university.
Welcome to my world.
-Elizabeth Nalewajk is a master’s candidate in mass communication
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yohann 2 years, 12 months ago
I cann't agree with you more!! I am really concerned about the air conditioning system in my apartment. When it is running, the "huge" noise make me couldn't sleep well. And the thick dust in the air-conditioning is worring, will it do any harm to my health? I don't know. I prefer not to use it even when the weather is bad.
We need someone coming out to give us a clear reply.
yohann 2 years, 12 months ago
I don't know how old is the air-conditioning, but it really looks terrible and dirty.
And I want to complain about the network. Not to mention the network is down for several times, I want to talk about the Kraettli rule. It says we can't use wireless router. It is just tooo inconvenient. Can you imagin two long wires crossing through the living room to the bedrooms.
mouse 2 years, 11 months ago
Thank you. FINALLY someone saw the same complaints I've been making to friends and family: the AC/heat is either on or off, the walls are paper thin and some have large gaps leading into the connecting apartment, the carpet is probably 30 years old, and the classroom tiled flooring is just not a good choice for a living space.
As for the A/C, that was a joke. It could be 75 degrees outside and the heat would turn on. I don't know how many nights I woke up sweating worse than when I go running because the A/C turned to heat sometime in the night.
There was a full-length mirror in my apartment and when I took it down to move it to accommodate my height there was a colony of black mold the size of the mirror on the wall and the back of the mirror. The utility closet is down-right filthy. It looks like black mold just thrives in there. I used to have a constant cough with mucus while I lived there. Now that I've moved I haven't had that cough.
I could hear my neighbors talking in their living room while I was in my back bedroom, and it sounded like they were right in my kitchen. Granted they did have loud voices, but the thin walls didn't help, especially the large gap in the wall that separated my living room from theirs. If anyone dropped something or scooted a chair across the floor in the apartment above you, it sounded like it was in the same room.
I had to run a 50-ft internet cord to the bedroom and would have to drag it into the living room when I wanted to use my laptop on the couch. I tripped over that cord several times while walking from the living room to the kitchen.
Why do the students who don't have any family or furniture get the good apartments? I am an older student with all my furniture, and the best place I can get on campus is a 60-year-old apartment that's never been updated? I remember talking to some family friends who attended the University back in the 1960s and when I told them where I was staying they rolled their eyes and laughed because they too had stayed in those apartments. They had the same problems then as the tenants do now. Yes, most of the students are the young, straight-from-high school type with no furniture or family, but that does not mean that they should get all the benefits from the fees that all students pay. There are other students that don't have a click of friends to partner up with in a 4-person apartment that is fully furnished. I personally, being 25, do not want 19-year-olds I don't know as my suite mates. I want a place of my own that is comparable to the amenities that those 19-year-olds can get. Kraettli tenants don't even get their own swimming pool or gym or computer lab!