Students on the top three floors of the Residence Hall at 1 Kenilworth have been asked to move out, due to last-minute renovations.
Three weeks into the semester, the students who were on those floors received an e-mail stating that renovations will be occurring and that they will be displaced to lower levels of the residence hall, floors one through five. No one is sure when the renovations will be completed, except management, who did not grant the Vanguard any information. The students who were asked to move rooms have already done so, but they were not told when, or if, they will move back into their originally assigned rooms for the 2019-2020 school year.
With rumors of a mold problem and maintenance not up to date, students are starting to grow tired of the Residence Hall’s problems.
“I’ve heard there is a mold problem. No one in management confesses to it though. One of the reasons I moved out,” explained senior Kerri Pfeifer, who now lives off-campus. Many residents have experienced similar problems, especially with the office and maintenance being unavailable on the weekends.
“No joke, [my roommate and I] were moved out of our room because her pillow fell behind her bed, and when she went to look for it, it was all gross with mold, we were assuming, because that’s what it looked like,” explained senior accounting major Frances Sanzone. She now lives off-campus as well.
This year, there are new rumors flying around the halls, that there is a mouse problem and the building is not up to date on the New York City fire code. But apparently the renovations are to replace the pipes and to repaint the walls. Residents who were affected by the renovations were clearly unhappy with the lack of information, and the poor timing.
“I was a little bit annoyed, because why would they move us on to the floor, knowing that we would have to move us off of it later?” asked Sophia Savidis, a freshman film major. “I had finally just finished feeling comfortable in a new place which took some adjusting. And then all of a sudden it was just like ‘haha psych! Let me just take that away from you.’ It was just frustrating.”
That frustration at being displaced was a common reaction among the students who had to move out of their room just a couple weeks after moving in.
“I was shocked because I had just moved in and gotten everything just the way I wanted it. It felt like I finally got a new home, and then I had to leave it which was really upsetting,” explained freshman Marissa Aratari. “It affected my experience here negatively because it was very tiring and draining to reclean and relocate all of my belongings six floors down.”
Although these residents experienced frustration about moving out of rooms just weeks after moving in, the renovations could benefit future and current lower classmen residents for the upcoming years.
As of press time, the management at 1 Kenilworth have declined to give Vanguard a statement.