First-years without washers

Oberlin students have a reputation for griping; however, the first-years of Barrows Hall actually have a reason. They have been unable to do their laundry in Barrows since they arrived on campus.

Unlike some residence halls, Barrows did not have a laundry room in the basement, but rather one washer and one dryer per floor. The south wing, which was demolished to make way for the new science complex, housed all of the laundry facilities for the entire building.

To counter the loss of the laundry room, the office of Residential Life and Services was expecting to have a women's restroom on the first floor converted into a laundry room with three washers and three dryers by the beginning of September.

"The contractor was extremely concerned about the structural integrity of the building. He thought that it would be unwise to allow students in that space," said Facilities Manager Sal Filardi.

Filardi explained that the construction at first involved knocking down the walls of Barrows and then putting in temporary walls, but that after the contractor's evaluation, the permanent walls had to be rebuilt to make the new laundry room safe.

"The issue is how to make the space securable and safe," said Larry Gibson, interim director of facilities.

All of the construction on Barrows is scheduled to be completed Oct. 29. The new laundry facilities will open at that time.

Until the end of October, the students living in Barrows will have to make other arrangements to do their laundry.

For the first week that students were on campus, area coordinator Jill Medina, Yeworkwha Belachew, interim director of residential life and services, Residential Coordinator and Barrows House Manager Daniel Schwartz worked together to coordinate a "Laundry Program."

On Labor Day, the area two residential staff shuttled students to and from laundromats in town and provided each student with three dollars to do their laundry, courtesy of Res Life.

Schwartz said, "The program was an opportunity to teach students who didn't know how to wash their clothes how to wash their clothes. It was also a way to compensate residents for not having laundry machines."

That was only a one-week program, however, since the staff expected the facilities to be open by Sept. 15 at the latest.

When asked if he heard much complaining from the residents of Barrows Hall, Schwartz said, "Because this is a first-year dorm, this is the way it has always been for them and it wasn't like [the laundry facilities] were taken away in the middle of the year and people were stuck looking for other places to do their laundry."

Most Barrows residents have been using other facilities, including Burton, North, Noah, Barnard and East to wash and dry their clothes, though some have been frequenting the local laundromat.

Most of the students seem to see the lack of facilities as a minor inconvenience. College First-year David Sansevere, a resident of Barrows, said, "It's not a big hassle ... but it would be nice to see it fixed."

"I wouldn't have a problem if the school wanted to do my laundry for me, but that's not going to happen. For now, we can just keep doing what we're doing and wait for the laundry room to be put in," said Schwartz.

Take it home for your parents to do: College first-year Mariana Padias, a resident of Barrows, shows just how large her laundry pile is since there isn't a laundry room in the dorm. (photo by Maria Breuninger)