As UConn experiences extreme cold, it is essential to keep dorm rooms warm. File Photo/The Daily Campus
As many UConn students have learned, the weather here on campus is usually extreme. Within the first week of the spring semester, temperatures already plummeted to near zero, with the wind chill making the air feel straight out of Antartica. With temperatures this low, one would assume that every dorm building on campus would be making sure the heat was cranked up. However, this was not the case in Alumni.
In my room in Brock, when it was needed most, the heat ceased to work. In its absence, a cold draft pushed its way into my dorm through the closed windows, chilling me and my two roommates to the core. On the coldest days, the temperature in the room refused to climb over 51 degrees; basically, it was like living in a refrigerator.
My roommates and I could not pile on enough blankets in order to stem the cold, as we still woke up shivering. We were forced to layer up and pile on sweatshirts in our own room. The only relief was opening the door to let in the heat from the hallway, which curiously was still working fine when the room’s heat was nowhere to be found.
Our room in Brock was not the only one that found itself without heat. During our floor meeting, many students complained about the lack of heat to our RA and some complained that even though the heat was on, it was set much too high, making the room unbearable to be in.
UConn students on Reddit also expressed complaints with their heat. In a post on r/uconn, a UConn student also in Brock complained about the lack of heat. They also had a drafty window and described in their post that when they called for a work order, “the boy on the phone had such a nasty tone and said ‘They’ll get to it when they can’ with no indication if it would be tonight or tomorrow.” Many comments were left on this post, with one student living in Hale having the same issue.
My roommates and I put in a work order after the first night of 50 degree weather in the dorm, which would have been Jan. 21; as of today, the heat in our room is still not fixed. With single digit temperatures looming for later this week, I am not looking forward to having to spend another night sleeping in a sweatshirt. It is not acceptable that a dorm at UConn should be without heat in this weather. It is not healthy and can affect sleep, which can also ultimately affect academics. My dorm is about $7000 for the year; I could easily find an off campus apartment for much cheaper that would likely provide better heat. Why then, should I choose a UConn dorm that makes me feel as if I am living in a refrigerator?
UConn should prioritize heat in the dorms especially when temperatures reach the single digits. It is not reasonable to have to sleep with multiple blankets and layers on. The price of UConn housing is high enough to assume this kind of issue would not be a problem, but once again the university disappoints. If you also find yourself without heat in the coming week, know that you are not alone, and that you should keep calling for work orders until the heat is fixed. Until then, stay warm.
Ben Crnic is a contributor for the The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at benjamin.crnic@uconn.edu.
