Poor conditions plague UNT dorms, classes, offices
By: Matthew Brune, Shekinah Berry, Cheyenne Parish, Jake Gray
A parlay of problems plagues North Texas housing and infrastructure, but that’s never been a secret. Instead, it’s an accepted fact that a new wave of students endure every year.
While the students, resident assistants, and professors all continue to go to work, sleep, and school in these buildings, there’s been a built up tolerance as people have learned to live with the issues.
The list problems people live with in the dorms and work through in their offices continues to grow with every year and now unique complaints have become standard. No hot water, slow internet, laundry/appliance maintenance, thin walls, struggling cafeterias, and simply lack of renovations to some essential buildings on campus like the General Academic Building continue to make priorities clear to everyone on campus.
“It’s clear that at UNT, the buildings are all different ages,” anthropology professor Andrew Nelson said. “It’s very obvious from the moment you walk in, especially walking in to a new place like the BLB. The GAB just seems very dated. It definitely has a 70’s vibe to it.”
Professors are the engine of universities as students come in and out. The lack of quality office space is a serious issue in buildings like the GAB, Chilton Hall, among other old buildings.
Of course, not everything can be fixed at once, but small issues are apparently omnipresent for these professors who spend hours on hours in their office faced with the same problems.
“There are always weird sounds going on down here from the elevator or just people above,” Nelson said. “The other issue is I definitely notice passing hours here. That can be a bit noisy and there’s more student interaction which I like because you’re on a college campus, but it does create noise issues.”
For residence halls, students often don’t even have their low standards met.
When discussing the living conditions of a dorm, aspects including limited washer and dryer options, thin walls, inadequate cafeteria quality, and far too many struggles with water, elevators, and other forms of basic necessities.
Alexa DeCario is an RA at Rawlins Hall, a residence hall only six years old, and not only lived there, but now faces the challenge of hearing all of the issues other students have as well. The question now turns to administration. Will they repair the aging buildings? Or simply build new ones like the BLB or Joe Greene Hall?
Regardless of the decision, the solutions are becoming more obvious yet less tangible across campus.
“With this weather, the showers get cold, so we’re constantly dealing with shower stuff,” Decario said. “The thing we get the most complaints on is the shower. We don’t have hot water. A lot of people are showering at night, so the showers start getting cold. I would say that’s probably what most people put work orders in for.
“I know some of the other halls deal with bugs or more problems like that and we don’t have that, so I think that’s a huge plus.”