Photo submitted by Princeton Studstill
During the recent Thanksgiving break, residents of Paddyfote Complex have been hit with major maintenance issues.
On Nov. 19, a second-floor resident of Building C (one of four buildings that make up the complex: A, B, C, and D) reported a flood that was caused by an AC unit overheating. The entire first, second and basement floor were completely flooded and damaged the single operating elevator of the building.
All residents who were living on those floors have been relocated to other available rooms in the dorm.
Cartchinie Darisma, a first-year Biology major shared her experience being a resident during the time of the incident.
“I personally feel like the university and maintenance should be in place a lot faster when major issues occur such as flooding, pipes bursting, etc.,” said Darisma. “It’s like they just skip over and neglect us just because Paddyfote is older. But in comparison to the newer dorms they respond a lot faster.”
On Nov. 23, the first floor of Building B was also flooded due to faulty pipes. Residents reported that the running water from the flood traveled into their rooms and damaged personal belongings.
In addition to the flooding, residents have also repeatedly reported maintenance issues concerning the washer and dryer machine’s card reader. For weeks this has been an inconvenience for students to do their laundry.
Although the card reader for the machines are not FAMU-run and is operated by a third-party company, residents still feel as though their issues are going unnoticed.
Sydney Adderson, a third-year business administration major was directly affected by the flooding and expressed her concerns as a resident.
“I hope FAMU doesn’t drop the ball on this one because I do have some personal belongings that were damaged due to the flood,” said Adderson. “I appreciate that the communication has been pretty solid between the RD and RA’s when giving us updates. We have a good relationship with them and we’re all learning from this incident."
Residents have been asked to take pictures and videos of all damages and email them directly to housing to receive reimbursements.
With the amount of maintenance issues being reported from one residential hall alone, FAMU will make future accommodations to securely house students within the upcoming academic year.
According to a recent report by FAMUnews.com, The State University System Board of Governors (BOG) has approved a financial resolution that outlines the plan for FAMU to construct a new 700-bed residence hall with a dining facility. The new dormitory is predicted to be located on the main campus and will consist of two four-story residence buildings, each with an east and west wing, with 350 double-occupancy bedrooms.
This project is predicted to be completed by the fall of 2020.