Life and vandalism at Lake Wright

This semester there are 44 female students living in the Sleep Inn at Lake Wright on Northampton Boulevard. They chose to move there with the promise of living in the new dormitories when they are finished for the spring semester.

The students in Lake Wright are all upperclassmen.

“Upperclassmen are generally easier to manage, and the freshmen are not as acclimated,” said Erica Clarke, resident assistant of Lake Wright. “Segregating the freshmen from the college and putting them across the street is like saying ‘yeah, we care about you but we don’t.’ It’s like a glorified commuter.”

Upon the students’ arrival to Lake Wright, they received a friendly smile and a not-so-friendly letter from the management and staff.

The letter states that they are not to “use our business center for school assignments. All of your meals are provided by Virginia Wesleyan at Virginia Wesleyan. Please do not enter our breakfast areas or our Manager’s Receptions. Microwaves, or any other cooking appliances, are not allowed in your rooms. There is a microwave in the Sleep Inn breakfast area that you may use after 10:00 a.m.”

“My mom’s friend bought me a microwave, but I can’t use it, said sophomore Jessica Haskins. “ I have to use the one downstairs and it’s a huge inconvenience to take my Hot Pockets up and down three levels.

Junior Lareeka Scurry was in the hotel’s business center using one of the two computers in spite of the letter.

“There is no Internet in our rooms,” said Scurry. “I feel like I brought my computer for nothing.”

The Internet has been disconnected on the third floor where the students reside, in fear of a virus.

Each student must “call a hotline and talk with a representative from the Internet provider and set up each computer individually,” said Clarke.

Service will not be provided until everyone has followed this procedure.

“It’s obvious a lot of people working here don’t like us,” said Haskins. We try to be as nice as possible. Multiple students have had complications with the staff and surprise lockouts.

“One night, I got back around 2:30 a.m. and my keycard wouldn’t work,” said Scurry. “I went back downstairs to find out why and I had a 60-cent phone bill. I had to pay before they let me back in my room.” Senior Rebecca Head had a similar experience around midnight one evening.

“I was locked out because of a $2.08 phone bill,” said Head. “I only had $2 on me, so I had to wander around in search of eight cents. I asked my R.A. for the change and they finally let me in my room.”

Another major concern is laundry service. At Lake Wright, it costs a dollar to wash and a dollar to dry. On campus, laundry is free.

Most students would think that hotel housekeeping would be great. It’s actually more bitter than sweet.

“I appreciate housekeeping, but not at 8 a.m.,” said Scurry. “They give you five towels one day and the next day I don’t need five more towels. If I put out my ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign they don’t listen.”

“Housekeeping comes too daggone early, and they have attitude when you don’t want it,” said junior Wendy Foy.

When parents decide to send their children to Virginia Wesleyan College, they are assured that 24-hour security services are protecting their children.

However, the residents of Lake Wright do not have this sense of security.

“Last Wednesday, there were two men knocking on our door, and they came back late that night,” said Haskins. “They went running, and my R.A. called security and they got the license plate.”

This type of disturbance is annoying on campus, but you know it’s a fellow student or some friends because you need a key card to get on the halls and security is always patrolling.

When students are off-campus, it could be anyone. Also this semester, six students’ cars were broken into at the hotel. “My car was broken into and everything in my glove compartment was on the floor,” said Haskins. “Luckily nothing important of mine was stolen, but another student’s stereo and speakers were stolen.”

Sophomore Monique Williams is a resident at Lake Wright. On Sunday night, her car was broken into and all her stereo equipment was stolen.



“After five cars were broken into, the Lake Wright tried to enforce more security with a uniformed police officer,” said Williams. “It seems like the police officer spends more time harassing us than protecting us.” Students are hoping to come back to campus and become part of the community once again.

The new dormitories need to be ready for next semester, but some Lake Wright students are skeptical.

“Honestly, I do not think the new apartments will be ready in time,” said Haskins.

Most of the Lake Wright residents were unaware of the price increase between the hotel rooms and the new state-of-the-art dormitories.

To live in the new apartments or row houses, it will cost $1,400 more than a Lake Wright hotel room. Many families cannot continue to handle the ever-increasing tuition as well as expensive housing options.

“I’m not sure if I can afford to move to the new dorms,” said Head. “I had no idea they were that expensive.”