Renovations are being made to the residence halls, but some students have had problems with cleanliness in the halls.

An article from last August addressed complaints on the cleanliness of the residents’ halls on Move-In Day, but with renovations being made and the possibility of one hall closing, there have not been any grievances so far, this semester.

Hayward Guenard, the director of Housing and Residence Life, said that the refurbishment of Ellender Hall is starting this semester and that there is talk among the administration of South Babington closing after this spring.

“It has been the plan since the three new halls [Scholars, Millet and Zeringue] came on- line that Babington go offline. It has stayed open so long for use as overflow because student demand was so high.”
Jessica Drezinski, marine biology sophomore from Berryville, Arkansas, lived in South Babington last semester and said the conditions were much worse than they are in her new room.

“We had cockroaches that would come out of the ceiling. One dive-bombed me one time and I was terrified,” Drezinski said.

Drezinski is living in Millet this semester and said there was some mold in the shower, but it’s not bad enough to file any complaints.

“It’s not as clean as I would’ve liked when I moved in,” Drezinski said, “but it’s not a big deal that I have to wash out a shower.”

Justin Brunet, an English major from Galliano, stayed in North Babington Hall for three semesters until it closed last spring because of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning issues. Brunet said that the conditions didn’t get very bad until his last semester there. At that point, the mold was becoming a problem in the showers, which rarely had hot water. When he and his roommate filed a complaint about it, the resident assistant told them that they had to clean it themselves once it got a certain color. When the air-conditioning broke over spring break, they were finally allowed to change rooms.

Brunet has lived in Ellender Hall for the past two semesters, and he had no issue with the condition of the rooms when he moved in both semesters. His one complaint was that the elevator was broken, but that was recently fixed.

Guenard said that after the renovations of Ellender Hall, all of the facilities will have had either a major facelift or are still relatively new. So far, he is not aware of any remarkable issues that have come up this semester.

“The two people that have spoken to me about cleanliness issues so far were international students who came into apartments already occupied by two different people,” Guenard said. “Their bedroom was cleaned, but not the common area that is shared by the other residents. That’s a delicate situation. We go through and clean what we can, but we don’t touch personal property.”

Nic Hebert, a senior English major, lives in Brady Apartment Complex and said his dorm was clean on Move-In Day last year in August. Hebert said he did what he could to keep the common area clean while he stayed over winter break.

“The only thing that makes it dirty is us. We did have to clean the air-conditioning vents when we first moved in. I don’t know if it was mold or just dust, but it wasn’t a big deal.”
Ash Cannon, an English senior from New Orleans, lives in Brady and said both her room and the common area were clean when she moved in.

“The thing about Brady,” Cannon said, “is that we live by a field, so we have to really keep this place clean, or when it gets cold they do have mice that will come in here. Housing even sends the residents an email saying ‘you need to keep your rooms cleaned or mice will come in,’ but I’ve never seen any.”

Cannon has lived in Ellender and Scholars before and said she never had a cleanliness problem on Move-In Day except for a clogged shower drain, which she reported to housing and was quickly fixed.

“It’s the students’ responsibility to keep the rooms clean,” Cannon said, “and if they have any problems outside of their area, it’s the faculty’s problem. Both students are faculty are responsible for the residence halls.”