Over the last two weeks, Culver-Stockton students have been experiencing high heat in the residence halls. Due to the school turning on the heat, many students are outraged as they struggle to be comfortable in their rooms as some room temperatures reach 95 degrees. 

The heat in all residence halls was turned on Oct. 17 as temperatures dropped below freezing Oct. 18. However, after a two-day stretch of below freezing weather, temperatures shot up to 80 degrees and stayed there for the rest of the week. 

Due to the overwhelming number of complaints from students, the heat was turned off on Oct. 20 and 21. But even with the heat off, room temperatures still remained in the 80s until late last week. 

The C-SC Student Handbook states “Facilities may require several days to repair non-emergency items. All problems should be reported to the Residence Assistant or submitted directly to Facilities via the Help Desk. Emergencies will be handled immediately if they are reported promptly. Facility complaints will be directed to the Director of Facilities, Troy Seals.”

Many students feel like this issue wasn’t solved in a timely manner. “I don’t know why it took them five days to fix a major problem,” Cameron said. 

According to Royal, the reason it took so long is because “with the system we have, Facilities isn’t able to flip a switch to turn off the heat and immediately get cool air to the residence halls. It takes days to go from hot to cold. They can’t just turn the AC back on.

“There isn’t a perfect answer as to why the school chose to turn the heat on,” Royal explained. “Because the weather was going to drop below freezing, Facilities made the decision to turn the heat on in order to avoid their system freezing. Student life was also getting complaints about residents getting too cold in their rooms. The unpredictable temperatures and heating and cooling system made this the perfect storm.”

Under the Student Bill of Rights in the Student Handbook, students have the right to a “clean, pleasant environment in which to live.” But this was a right Stone Hall resident E’rmoni Redden was denied. 

“I went four days with my room being above 95 degrees. The day it hit 98 degrees I had four bloody noses and migraines. I was dizzy and my eyes turned bloodshot red,” Redden said.  

After a few days of oppressive heat and numerous complaints, President Palmer visited several rooms in Stone Hall, including Redden’s. According to Redden, Palmer told her that her room was “completely worse than others” and agreed that her living situation was “disappointing”. He gave Redden his personal fan and repeatedly apologized for her poor living conditions but nothing about her situation changed.

“My lacrosse coach told me to sleep in someone else’s room but all of my friends live in Stone Hall so it wouldn’t have made a difference. A group of girls from Stone had to sleep on the ground because it was cooler on the ground than in their own bed,” Redden said. “I had to sleep in the common area with fans on me.” 

It wasn’t just Stone Hall residents who chose to relocate at night in search of a cooler environment. Helsabeck Hall resident Vance Cameron chose to relocate and sleep in the basement. 

“My room was 86 degrees, making it almost impossible to sleep. The basement common area was cooler and had more airflow so me and five others put a lot of fans all around us in an attempt to draw the cold air from outside in while we slept,” Cameron said. “During the day, the heat made it unbearable to do everyday activities like shower, clean my room, do homework and laundry.” 

Many students are enraged by the temperature in their residence halls and took to Wildcats Connect, a new app C-SC launched this year, to voice their concerns. Many students shared photos of their thermostats and commented about how the heat was impacting their day-to-day living. 

The Dean of Students, Angela Royal, created Wildcat Connect as a platform for students to find events, join organizations, and meet other students with similar interests, not as a place for people to complain or be negative. 

“I completely understand why students are upset. I’m not at all pleased with the situation and I sympathize with how awful living with excessive temperatures must be,” Royal said. “But no matter how upset a student is, they must be respectful when it comes to situations like this.”

Many students have responded on the new app with negative or inappropriate comments. Whenever a student does this, Royal has to delete the comment and have a talk with them in her office. 

“If students think it’s okay to post negatively about their school, they might think it would be acceptable to post something like that about their future job. And that belief could one day get them fired,” Royal said. “It’s part of my job to make sure students understand the consequences to posting something like that online.”

Aside from the negative or inappropriate comments, students’ complaints about the heat also launched a discussion about the conditions and cleanliness of the residence halls. On the Wildcat Connect app, Turley Hall resident Jaden Griffin shared a photo of her vent covered in dirt and mold. She went on to say that she’s been sick this year, and believes the dirty vents have something to do with that. 

Chloe Jackson posted a photo of the light fixtures above the showers in Johnson Hall, filled with bugs and dust. According to Jackson, “reports have been made, RAs have been told and yet nothing has been done. No AC is one thing, but the cleanliness of the school is a whole other issue.” 

Royal has created a sub channel on Wildcat Connect called “Unresolved Issues Reporting Form” for complaints on campus. The goal of this sub channel is to keep the general feed for its intended purpose, but to also continue to listen to students needs and issues. 

However, instead of complaining online, Royal asks that students file work orders and if nothing changes, reach out to her for help. 

Residence Life and Student Life have little cross-over with Maintenance and Facilities. Residence and Student Life are in charge of placing students in residence halls and community building. After a student is placed in their hall, Facilities and Maintenance take over. Aside from students themselves, this department oversees everything in residence halls.

However, with the high heat in the residence halls, students don’t care who’s in charge of which department. They just want a comfortable environment to live in. 

“I couldn’t open my windows to let the heat out because one is broken and has holes in the screen and the other is infested with bugs,” Redden explained. 

According to Royal, “The school’s had a screen replacement order since spring. However, due to short supply, they haven’t arrived yet.” The school is expecting some screens to be delivered sometime this week and the remainder to be delivered throughout the rest of the semester. 

Royal and Seals don’t plan to turn on the heat again until both the temperatures in the residence halls and the temperatures outside drop. 

If anyone has any concerns, complaints, or comments Royal urges they email her at aroyal@culver.edu or stop by the Student Life office to address them.