Woodbridge residents say they’ve had intermittent heat and hot water for the last year, making it difficult for them to shower and stay warm.
Jonathan Cokely, CC ’13, said his shower had no hot water three times last week, and once every week or two last semester. He has called Housing and Dining multiple times since October, but the problem hasn’t been fixed.
Cokely said he’s “frustrated,” although he wants to give the housing office the benefit of the doubt since Woodbridge is so old.
“I would be happy if I actually saw someone from Housing out here other than the general building maintenance people,” Cokely said. “I’ve called at least three times and have never heard back from anyone from housing."
His suitemate, Ben Grossman, CC ’13, showered in Schapiro Hall last semester when the water went out, but Grossman said it’s too cold to walk to and from Schapiro for a shower this semester. He also called Housing and Dining once or twice last semester when he had problems with water pressure and heating in his room, but he didn’t get a response.
“You’d expect that, paying what we do, it shouldn’t be a temporary space,” Grossman said. “You’re supposed to feel comfortable, and you should have basic amenities like hot water and heating.”
Heather Tsonopoulos, the director of communications for Student and Administrative Services, said in an email that Housing and Dining has gotten only eight hot water work tickets for Woodbridge since September.
Cokely said he brought the issue up with his resident adviser, though Tsonopoulos said hot water issues have not been presented to the Woodbridge Residential Programs staff. She added that students can file online maintenance requests or attend monthly “production meetings” with Housing and Dining at JJ’s Place if they have issues like these.
Tarini Shrikhande, CC ’12, said the building’s hot water and heat go off “randomly,” although she hasn’t complained to the housing office because the hot water always comes back eventually. Her suitemates Gillian Rhodes, CC ’12, and Kimberly Rubin, CC ’12, said they were both unable to shower when their hot water went out for at least six hours on Friday.
“It happens frequently,” Rubin said. “They don’t notify us.”
Rubin didn’t contact anyone about the problems this weekend, believing it would be “pointless” because the housing office is usually “pretty slow” and might not have responded before the problem fixed itself. Grossman discussed his hot water problems at the Columbia College Student Council-sponsored town hall meeting on Sunday night.
CCSC President Aki Terasaki, CC ’12, said in an interview that the council would work to solve issues like the hot water problem by “making sure the right people are alerted.”
“What we want to do is see that those problems are at least heard by the people who need to hear them, that they’re out there,” Terasaki said.
In spite of the water issues, Grossman said he’s glad he lives in Woodbridge.
“It is what it is,” Grossman said. “I really like where I live, except occasionally not having hot water and not being able to shower or have heat.”
Lillian Chen contributed reporting.
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