On September 16, students who were assigned the residence of Townhouse 16 Block were able to move in after a delay in construction, pushing back their move in date.

On August 23, 2022, student residents planning to move into Townhouse 16 Block were notified by the Office of Residence Life that “there was an unexpected construction delay that could affect your ability to move in on-time.”

Further, the email said if a delay was to occur students would be placed at the Conference Center on campus or the Trumbull Marriott hotel until their permanent residence was ready.

On August 26, a follow up was sent by ResLife in which they gave “confirmation that the new units will be ready for student move-in by September 16.”

Senior and Junior students were set to move in on September 5 with classes to begin on September 6 for all years according to the 2022-23 academic calendar.

In addition to the temporary stay, ResLife expressed in an email sent to students that they would provide “reimbursement for mileage/gas, food/meal plan no cost option, laundry pick up and drop off, [and] move in/out assistance.”

Also, on September 17 from 12-2 p.m. there was a “special move-in party” for the students and their families who had to move in.

According to a Mirror article the construction for the new Townhouse blocks began in early 2021.

Students residing in Townhouse 16 Block expressed their experience during the delay and their temporary stays either at the hotel or Conference Center.

 Ceci Hall ‘24 is living in the new Townhouse block. Due to the delay, she was temporarily living in the Trumbull Marriott hotel.

Hall expressed frustration for the situation since she “knew there were other renovations going on around campus so I was frustrated that our townhouses were not prioritized and were finished last.”

Hall continues to say that she understood there are construction delays and does “appreciate Fairfield providing me with a hotel to stay in and the meal plan has been nice, I think they were generous with that.”

However, she “wished they had told us sooner that our townhouses wouldn’t be finished.”

With regards to her experience in the hotel, Hall “[hasn’t] minded the temporary housing and I’ve enjoyed my hotel room. However, it has been stressful dealing with the workday traffic commute in the mornings on my way to class.”

She attests to her personal experience on the first day of class, “ I was late to my first class the first night after staying in the hotel because I was not expecting all the traffic.”

With regards to compensation, Hall mentions how ResLife originally offered reimbursement in the form of gas–yet, she has not received it. 

Additionally, Hall states “we did receive a meal plan, however, there have been times where I have been at my hotel and didn’t want to drive all the way back to campus for a meal so I have had to buy my own [food].”

Similarly, Caroline Murray ‘24 is another Townhouse 16 Block resident. She resided in the Conference Center until September 16.

With regards to communication with ResLife on the delay, Murray says the confirmation on  August 26 was “incredibly frustrating as we had visited campus and seen the active construction all summer between the eight of us and speculated that it wouldn’t be ready for September 5th.”

Murray continues to say, “We had sent numerous emails and phone calls to ResLife and were always met with vague answers that always said ‘we’re expecting them to be ready’ and we only heard about the reality 10 days before moving in.”

When asked about the reimbursements such as gas mileage and laundry services, Murray states that, “ They [ResLife] also gave us free laundry service, but only for one day.”

With regards to the Conference Center, Murray expressed challenges of living there for the first two weeks of classes. She said, “the desk was only built for one person (a small L-shaped desk) so only one could do homework there or get ready in the morning.”

She sums up her experience as “disorganized and anxiety provoking being unable to unpack and spread out, unless I wanted to put my clothes on the ground.”

Murray felt as though the process of communication was not the best, she attests that she “knows there were a lot of unknowns on ResLife’s end [but] up until the 16th, which remained only a tentative date until that day at 5 p.m., we were emailing back and forth and never getting a clear answer.”

On the final day Murray says that “there were thirty of us just standing in the lobby at 4:45 just waiting to hear about the 5 p.m. tentative move in time; we were cheering when they showed up at 5:15.”

John Martin ‘23 was also subjected to the move in delay. He was housed in the Conference Center because he “personally thought being on campus would be better.”

He additionally said the move in process “wasn’t too bad.”

Martin additionally states that since moving in “the townhouse has been great so far everyone has their own single and it reminds me of Barnyard.”

With regards to reimbursements received, Martin states, “we got a few perks such as some dining dollars and a meal plan for a few weeks, but it wasn’t anything amazing.”

Liana Giacobbe ‘24 is another resident who lives on Townhouse Block 16.

She also resided in the conference center and states that it had “not the worst accommodations,” however, for the first few weeks she felt “far from the townhouses and most of our friends.”

Giacobbe states that the “university was as accommodating as possible, though there were some slight issues with the laundry service and I feel as though they could have communicated with us more effectively.”

Because moving into Townhouse Block 16 on September 16 aligned with ongoing classes, Giacobbe expresses she was “super stressed last weekend with balancing moving in and making sure I had enough time to enjoy my days off.”

However, despite the move in delay Giacobbe says “our house is gorgeous and we love it, though it is obvious that move in was rushed.”

Giacobee expresses some issues with the house stating “ we have had to do a ton of cleaning and have had some issues with our plumbing, which has been nothing short of annoying.”

Further, Ryan Schneider ‘24 who lives at Townhouse 162 along with nine other male students. The male students were in the Conference Center prior to the official move in.

He expresses the group “has had a few hiccups” with regards to moving in.

Schneider expresses that the Office of ResLife did not “answer mine or my parent’s emails.”

Additionally, he said when the group arrived at the house there were several issues with the interior.

For instance, Schneider states, “the oven was not plugged in properly” and “there was caulk all over the floor.”

Schneider also expressed that the washing machines were not functioning properly, stating he felt “everything here was kind of rushed but I am happy to be moved in here.”

The Mirror requested comment from ResLife regarding the number of students who were impacted by the delay of the opening of Townhouse 16 Block as well as questions with regards to reimbursement, and they did not answer in time. However, The Mirror will add their comment if answered to our online publication.

 

About The Author

-- Senior I Editor-In-Chief I Politics --

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.