Students Voice Problems with Undermaintained Dorms

From molding to overcrowding issues for the past two years, housing on Florida A&M’s campus seems to not be getting better.

According to the housing guide-booklet, all visitors must be out of the residents’ rooms at midnight and some students don’t agree with the set time.

“The only issue I have with on campus housing is the curfew,” said Dakary Davis, 20, a second year pre-pharmacy student from Miami. “I would like to have my friends over past midnight. Housing officials are just too strict to me.”

Javarous McNealy, 19, a second year biology student from Tampa, is tired of there being a limited amount of washing machines never working compared to the ratio of students that need to use them.

“There are a lot of students who live in Paddyfoote. There should be more machines so we don’t have to wait five to six hours to wash our clothes,” McNealy said.

Latifah Henry, a 19-year-old second year biology student from Tallahasse, also has a similar issue.

“I go back home to wash my clothes because there aren’t enough washers and the dryers hardly even work,” said Henry. “My clothes are always damp after taking them out the dryer.”

Earlier this month, returning students who were wishing to secure housing for next school year had to sign up in Gibbs Hall.

According to Alexis Bryan, 21, a junior psychology student from Lakeland, she was treated unfairly when trying to secure a spot for on campus housing.

“After waiting for hours outside of Gibbs Hall to be one of the first to sign up for a single bedroom for the next school year, I was overlooked and people who signed up after me were called ahead of me,” Bryan said. “It’s no fair that Mr. Calhoun let the boys in Gibbs Hall sign up first just because they live there. I ended up being assigned a double.”

Della Purefoy, 19, a sophomore business administration student from Chaplin Hill, N.C., residing in Wheatley, said there’s never enough toilet tissue for the girls.

“They just put in new seat coverings and shower heads, but the showers are still not always clean and the cleaning ladies don’t do a good job,” Purefoy said. “Also, sometimes they don’t come for two days, which leaves us without tissue. Another issue is that there is molding and you can tell that they just put in grout to cover up the molding and my air conditioning has an odor to it, so I don’t even run my AC most of the time.”

Last semester when Housing Director Oscar Crumity was asked about the mildew growth within some of the dormitories, he told The Famuan the most reasonable solution is major renovation of the facilities.

He also stated, “Wheatley Hall, the dormitory with the most moisture issues, may be the next building up for renovation.”

On a brighter note, renovation to Sampson and Young Halls is slated to be complete by Fall 2011, according to the university’s Office of Communications, which will add more than 230 beds to on-campus housing.