While Facilities Services was careful to notify Harrison College House residents about a power loss last week, students are frustrated that what many consider to be more substantial problems remain unaddressed.
Harrison lost power for approximately 30 seconds on Friday, due to a power blink put in place by Facilities and Real Estate Services in order to mitigate a problem with underground power lines. Though no students have expressed complaints to Facilities Services about the power outage, problems continue in Harrison, most commonly with bathroom and elevator facilities.
According to Hamilton Village Area Manager Mike Doherty, power had to be turned off in order to re-position an underground power line after it had faulted.
"We have a lot of power lines that run underground, and one of the lines was transformed due to a fault, ... [and] after we checked it out, we had to put the lines back to where they are normally," Doherty said.
Doherty said that the blink took place at 10 a.m. in order to avoid interfering with student alarm clocks that might have turned off had the blink been done earlier.
Despite the short amount of time that power was down, residents of Harrison were notified of the situation by an e-mail the evening before, in which they were urged to save any documents on their computer.
Though Facilities officials provided advance warning about the power blink issue, they have yet to remedy what many residents feel are more serious housing problems.
"The elevators are notoriously unreliable -- one is down usually all the time ... and they're very slow," Harrison resident and Engineering junior Will Frank said.
Recently, one elevator has constantly been stopping at the first floor, regardless of whether that button is pushed.
Frank also noted that he has experienced problems due to a leak in the bathroom above his.
"A huge bulge developed in the wall," said Frank, who noted that after recognizing the problem, he was finally able to receive aid from Facilities Services after a week of daily calls.
College junior Stacey Kumabe also had problems with the plumbing in her room, including clogged drains and a leaky bathroom ceiling.
"This ceiling above our toilet will leak, so it's kind of unpleasant [because] water is falling on you, and ... if you're sitting on the toilet, [the floor above you] also has a toilet there," Kumabe said.
She said that though Facilities workers have come to address the drain problems, they have yet to return to correct the leaking ceiling.
"Apparently, every time we take a shower, water bubbles up next door," Kumabe added, noting that the water will run into her neighbor's common room.
Facilities Services Director Betsy Robinson said she is not surprised by the plumbing problems.
"It's not uncommon, the reasons being -- particularly in the high rises -- [that] they are 30 years old, but we're not renovating the core systems, which is the plumbing system. So over 30 years' time, leaks will occur. The plumbing problems are going to exist," Robinson said.
Some students, including Harrison resident and College junior Mark Paladino, have received what they felt were inadequate responses from Facilities.
"We initially had problems with the sink outside the bathroom, and it seemed like, underneath, the piping was going to cave in, and someone came and said they would" return and fix it, but no one has come, Paladino said.
He added that he also notified Facilities about his leaky freezer and received a response unrelated to his problem.
"Someone came early in the morning when we were all still asleep and [left a slip saying] the toilet has been fixed," Paladino said.
College junior Daniel Chor had recurrent significant flooding in his room during recent heavy rainstorms.
"I came into my room, and 25 percent of my room was where the carpet was soaked, and I dried it myself. ... They didn't do anything about it," said Chor, who added that, two weeks later during a heavier rainstorm, over 50 percent of his room became flooded.
"It took [Facilities] about four days to come, Housekeeping kept drying it [and] Maintenance didn't fix the window ... [until] last Tuesday," Chor said.
The window leaked due to poorly installed sealant around the perimeter.
"I was trying to get them to replace the carpet, [but] they put a humidifier in my room [and said] as long as it didn't get wet again it would be OK," Chor added.
Robinson said that, though flooding problems during the rainstorm were less common in Harrison and Hamilton college houses, Harnwell College House had significantly more leaking.
When "we had a huge flood and driving rain coming in, we saw it more in Harnwell, where the windows are older versus Hamilton and Harrison," Robinson said.
Robinson noted that both windows and air-conditioning units are still under warranty in Hamilton and Harrison.
