Students said they are having problems getting issues in their dorm rooms acknowledged and resolved.
“As we receive word of a problem, we immediately report it to Physical Plant, and usually they send someone out immediately,” said Sara Jo Burks, assistant director of housing and residence life. “Any resident with a mold concern should contact their RA staff or the housing office, and we will contact Physical Plant.”
However, Justin Lewis, a senior political science major from Washington, D.C., said he noticed in August that something had been growing in his air vent that he suspected to be mold.
“I just moved in, and I was looking at the air vent and trying to close it, and I was like ‘what is this black stuff? … This is mold,’” Lewis said.
Lewis said that he and his roommate both put in work requests to get the air vent cleaned numerous times, and it took months for housing to address the issue.
“Even if it’s not mold, clearly something is growing in my vent that has not been taken care of,” he said.
Lewis said housing came out on to his dorm room and scrubbed the air vent, but “I’m pretty sure there is still mold back in my vent.”
Lewis also mentioned an issue he has been having with his shower drain. Lewis’ dorm room is handicapped accessible, so the shower is designed for people in wheelchairs.
“The drain in my room (shower) is on a slant, so the water goes past it and pools up by the toilet, and there’s a constant puddle all of the time,” Lewis said.
He said he has been complaining about the drainage problem since the first time he took a shower, and it still hasn’t been fixed.
Lewis said he and his roommate have to sweep the water into the drain after each shower. Lewis said that no mold has formed because of the shower problem.
“That’s because I’m actively taking care of it every time, and that shouldn’t be my responsibility,” he said.
Lewis said he is not trying to “trash” the university.
“I love Troy,” he said. “It’s treated me well.”
Instead, he said he wishes the university would acknowledge issues in the dorm rooms instead of blaming the residents. He said he believes the university will blame him for the issue.
Lewis’ RA declined to comment.
Another student, Arturo Aguilar, a freshman computer science major from Puebla, Mexico, said he has had bed bugs since he first moved into his Clements Hall dorm room in January.
At the first sign of the bed bugs, Aguilar bought bed bug spray to get rid of them. He said after two weeks, the bed bugs were back, which he described as an annoying cycle of spraying over and over.
“Every day I wake up with new bites,” Aguilar said.
Aguilar said someone came in Feb. 14 and sprayed his bed down with bed bug spray.
On Thursday, pest control was sent to address the flea problem.
Yesterday, his mattress was replaced with what Aguilar described as a “dirty and smaller one.”
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