Ice cold showers greet dorm dwellers

Those High Rise East and High Rise South residents who needed a cold shower yesterday morning were in luck. Both buildings had no hot water yesterday morning, giving many residents an unexpected rude awakening on the first day of classes. Residential Maintenance Director Lynn Horner said that the hot water was not working in High Rise East from 8 a.m. to 12 noon due to technical difficulties. "The sensor on the steam valve was malfunctioning and had to be replaced," Horner said, adding that the steam valve is what regulates the steam that controls the hot water. High Rise South's deprivation, though, came as a result of not enough pressure being placed on the underground steam lines feeding into the building, she said. Donna Smith, a desk worker in High Rise East, said that the problem was solved by noon. "The hot water's back on now," Smith said yesterday afternoon. "Everything's back to normal." According to Horner, however, students do not have to worry that these Antarctic-like shower experiences will become "a normal thing." Many of the buildings' residents said the water's frigid temperature was not how they intended to start their day. "It was really, really cold this morning," College freshman and High Rise East resident Brian Bohr said. "There was no heat in my room, and I just wanted to take a warm shower -- I couldn't even do that." "At first, it was pretty warm," said College sophomore Erwin Chen, who lives in High Rise South. "But then it got colder and colder. And colder." "It was like ice," Engineering sophomore Jim Strangio agreed. "Absolutely ice cold." And a few students mentioned that they had been suffering in silence for a few days. "We haven't had hot water for a couple days now," High Rise East resident Chere Rael said. "My roommate went down and complained. It's really annoying -- and freezing!"

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