Out of shape dormitories receive costly face lift
by Tricia Wood

Village I freshman dorms Kellam and Rose have gotten a face lift. A complete makeover, in fact, composed of loft beds, flourescent lights, and pink and blue painted walls.

“We’ve already been criticized about our paint choices,” said Bruce Vaughn, director of the physical plant.

Vaughn and his crew wanted to give the dorm rooms a new appeal. The walls in the girls’ dorm rooms are femininely painted pastel pink and the boys’ dorm rooms are comparably pastel blue.

Questionable color choices for a college dormitory, but nevertheless, intentions were apparent.

“We wanted to break it up a little bit,” said Vaughn. “We are trying to add a little color, give it a little life.”

In addition to the new paint job, the old built-in wardrobes and dressers, which have been there for 30 years, were torn out and replaced with portable ones. The beds were converted into loft beds, and the single most important thing to students was achieved: better lighting. Maintenance upgraded the lighting by installing new, bright flourescent lights. The old carpeting was replaced in hallways and lounge areas, and the room numbers on each door are plainly visible.

“Every room is clearly defined and in braille,” said Vaughn.

Although it seems like maintenance has done a great deal already, this is only the beginning.

“We are tackling the greatest concerns first and juggling budget dollars at the same time,” Vaughn said.

So far the renovations to Kellam and Rose have totaled about $382,000. Add to that the $150,000 arranged for Old and Eggleston Halls’ plans for renovation. Over a half a million dollars has been set aside in order to get Village I looking appropriately for their residents.

“That’s not to say we have solved all the problems,” Vaughn said, “we are just eating the elephant one bite a time.”

Vaughn explained that this is a time-consuming project that takes patience from the crew as well as from the residents.

“You can’t just go ‘poof’ and get everything done in one day,” Vaughn said. “With all of the activities over the summer requiring housing, we had to put our project on hold temporarily.”

Vaughn says that within the next three years, Old and Eggleston Halls will be renovated, as well as Smithdeal and Gum in Village II.

Although these halls have been renovated, some problems still exist. Most of the remaining problems lie within the heating and air conditioning units. Since these units are the originals, they leak a lot and are an inconvenience to many residents.

“Maintenance knows what the problem is,” said Kerry Strnad, assistant director of Residence Life and area coordinator for Village I, “but if you don’t have the resources, you can’t fix it.”

Strnad believes maintenance does whatever they can to help assist the residents in whatever problems arise.

She said the renovations have been needed for about five or six years now. She claims they began the process as soon as the opportunity presented itself in an effort to benefit the residential community at VWC.

The biggest problem that initially forced the issue of renovations was the roof. There was a lot of water damage to the property due to sporadic leaks throughout the building.

“It doesn’t say a lot for appearance sake when you have wet floor signs everywhere,” said Strnad. “You want your building to be in good shape.”