Students now have one fewer excuse for accumulating piles of dirty laundry.
By the end of the month, laundry-service provider Mac-Gray Corporation will have finished installing the last loads of brand-new machines in all college houses.
The highly anticipated project, which started in early September, includes replacing over 200 washers and 200 dryers in all 11 College Houses except Mayer Hall, which received new machines last year.
At most College Houses, including the high rises and the Quadrangle, the new machines are already in use and have generated positive feedback.
Students and University officials alike have praised the new machines for their user- and environment-friendly qualities.
"The washers use less detergent," Engineering senior Neel Gowdar said. "And the dryers are a lot more effective. I can dry a lot more jeans now."
College junior Dana Furstenau agreed that "they work perfectly well."
Housing's contract management director Gordon Rickards cited several reasons for the switch, including student complaints and the machines' old age and outdated technology.
He also pointed to environmental benefits, including the machines' minimal use of water and electricity.
"It is estimated that we will save 4,200,000 gallons of water per year and use 47.85 percent less energy," Conference Services spokeswoman Dana Matkevich wrote in an e-mail.
Gowdar also said the new machines do not leak water in the laundry room like the old machines did in Harnwell College House.
One downside: The whole laundering process can take a bit longer.
Furstenau said the new washers require 20 more minutes than the old ones, and the front-load design makes it difficult to pack as many clothes in.
For seniors like Gowdar, the switch came unexpectedly: Last year, when students and the Undergraduate Assembly were looking into ways to draw attention to laundry problem, University officials gave no sign of making any drastic changes until its contract with Mac-Gray, a major vendor to colleges and universities around the country, would expire in June 2008.
Mac-Gray branch manager Anthony Perez explained that the switch was planned this summer, and that the company put "all hands on deck" to get the machines moved in as quickly as possible.
Mac-Gray was "very eager" to replace the machines, Rickards said.
Perez said the approaching date had little to do with why the replacement machines were installed earlier than expected; the move was made simply because it was needed.
"We hope the students have a better experience with the new machines," Rickards said.
