RPInsider

In case you haven’t heard… the last three months have seen power, internet, and water outages in East Campus (including Stacwyck, RAHPs, BARH, and Bryckwyck).   The power outages were daily for about a week, when setting alarm clocks became a waste of time.

In fact, so many students missed their alarms that some residents of Stacwyck began a petition which received over 100 signatures!  One of the leaders of the petition, Patrick Boldrighini, sent an email to the residents of Stacwyck:

…The organizers of the petition met with Lisa Trahan, the Interim Director of Residence Life to discuss the petition.  … Residence Life will not compensate us financially for the inconveniences of the ECAV project.  She did however promise to increase communication between the RPI Campus Planning. …  She also said that Residence Life would attempt to influence the scheduling of work to times when it is more convenient for students. …They would also like to do something for us at the start of spring semester.  They would appreciate any ideas (they are currently thinking of a pizza party).

A pizza party?  Really?  We lose internet access during the semester and they offer a pizza party?  In the real world, if you lose power, your power company doesn’t keep on billing.  Your cable company refunds you for the time lost when your cable goes out.  Why isn’t Residence Life held to the same standard?

RPInsider applauds the work of the Stacwyck residents who were able to create this grassroots movement.  While it shouldn’t take sub-par living conditions to get students involved, we’ll take what we can get.  Fight on, Stacwyckers.

Recently, an apology email was sent out from Barbara Nelson (ECAV project manager) to the residents of these facilities.  Here’s part of the intro:

As the semester draws to a close, I would like to thank the RPI community, our neighbors and especially those living on East Campus for suffering numerous inconveniences with patience.  Please be assured that the most disruptive construction work at the East Campus Athletic Village is also winding down.  … When students return to class in January the worst will be behind us and the construction crews will be focused primarily on interior construction through the winter months.

She also said that

Future work should not bear the same risks as we have suffered on this phase of the work.

That boils down to… ‘we’ll try harder next time.’ Thanks RPI.

Share ECAV