A work order for Columbia Housing

With the semester well on its way, students should be settled into their dormitories and back into the hustle and bustle of Morningside Heights, but not all are. Some students still need repairs to be made to their rooms—repairs that should have been made during the summer.

This summer, Housing and Dining evaluated individual rooms to determine whether walls need to be painted, carpets cleaned, or furniture fixed. Prior residents are supposed to be held accountable for the condition of their rooms, and by the time new residents move in, repairs should not be necessary. At move-in, students are expected to complete Web Inventory Reports, which ask them to list any damage to their rooms at the beginning of the year, so they can later be charged if their dormitories are in worse condition at the year’s end. Fees for the damage are meant to cover the cost of repairs made during the summer. If the system goes as planned, the next residents should find their rooms in near perfect condition.

This year, though, Web Inventory Reports have not yet been made available to students. And when the WIRs are finally sent out, Housing and Dining still has no way of verifying whether or not students filled them out truthfully. Without a system of oversight, the WIRs will prove to be ineffective. Since Housing and Dining has many responsibilities on campus, it could solicit the assistance of resident advisors, who could check in on residents and help them submit reports if their rooms are damaged. And finally, it must ensure that the repairs are actually made.

With a proper system in place, Housing and Dining will be able to enforce its own policy of charging fees to repair students’ rooms. By cooperating with students it can help make living at Columbia feel not just like living in dorms, but in actual homes.