KOH | Meet the McGraws: A Sorry Excuse for Housing 

Just a little previous West Campus, a darkish winding highway shrouded in overgrown timber results in three previous brick homes: 109, 118 and 122 McGraw Place. To get there, college students should enterprise by means of a collection of fraternity homes by day, and whole darkness by evening — save for the mere two to 3 road lamps flickering alongside the sidewalk. Upon arrival, a cockroach would possibly scuttle from behind the radiator, and what was meant to be a scorching bathe earlier than mattress can finish as a frigid flood within the toilet.

Welcome to Southwest Campus, the forgotten nook of previous frat-houses turned dorms.

Southwest Campus can also be house to 2 program homes: Veteran’s Home and the Fairness & Engagement Group, which college students can apply to reside in for a novel co-ed and communal dwelling expertise. The McGraw homes, nevertheless, are a distinct story; they need to now not be choices for housing attributable to Cornell Housing’s poor upkeep and lack of concern for the residents.

As a sophomore switch, I lived in 122 McGraw Place, former house to the fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon, together with many different switch college students. After I arrived within the fall, it was clear that little to no makes an attempt have been made to create a welcoming and clear atmosphere for incoming college students. Mud and cobwebs embellished the entrance door, dust swept throughout the lounge flooring and trash was slouching in a darkish nook. The ladies’s toilet on the 4^th flooring was flooded throughout the first week and remained unfixed all through the complete fall semester. In the meantime, in 109 McGraw Place, a mouse was noticed roaming the halls. To select up packages, college students needed to tread to North Campus’ Robert Purcell Group Heart, a prolonged 27 minute stroll, or presumably longer relying on the scale of the package deal. After many complaints, Southwest Campus’ service heart was moved in October to Willard Straight Corridor, which was nonetheless a hike up the slope away.

At my first residence corridor assembly, my RA had introduced that Cornell Housing and upkeep would regularly start renovating the area. It appeared that Cornell Housing determined the beginning of the varsity 12 months could be the proper time to renovate the home, slightly than earlier than. Regardless of this promise, nevertheless, day-long water shutoffs occurred all too usually, damaged heaters went untouched and leaks within the loos have been a each day incidence all through the semester.

These points with upkeep might be mounted, ought to Cornell Housing understand the present circumstances of those residence halls. But their lack of response regarding scholar security hints that there won’t be enchancment any time quickly. On a number of events, I’ve felt my very own security in danger on Southwest Campus, however my studies of my considerations have gone unacknowledged.

As many do, I’d usually keep on campus till I completed my work earlier than retreating to my room. But in contrast to others, my stroll again to my dorm was a frightening and horrifying problem each evening. As a younger girl, strolling alone previous darkish woods with little mild is already an unenjoyable expertise; I’d discover myself pace strolling to the home or calling a pal to easily really feel protected. My request for the varsity to put in extra road lamps alongside the highway in order that the trail again to the rooms could be safer for all college students dwelling in Southwest Campus went unanswered. Then, my request to alter residence halls attributable to these security considerations additionally fell on deaf ears.

But maybe probably the most stunning and disturbing truth is the dearth of response to studies of aged males lingering close to the McGraw Locations. Throughout my evening walks again to my room, I’ve seen males — who have been clearly not college students — wandering close to the homes. I’ve heard from my neighbor of a person taking footage into our first-floor toilet. On one account, at round 2 a.m., an unknown man requested me if he might enter the home as I unlocked the door. I bear in mind panic flooding by means of my thoughts as I raced upstairs, refusing to look again, into my room and locking the door. I notified my RA and known as the RA-on-Name and was advised that Cornell Security would examine; I by no means heard again. The thriller man might have been a scholar or a visiting pal, however the lack of initiative to warn different residents or to handle this concern of strangers approaching the home sheds mild onto the dearth of Cornell Housing’s care for college students.

Cornell Housing’s indifference and lack of upkeep transcended into this 12 months and onto North Campus. Roughly 130 college students from the category of 2027 have been welcomed onto campus with uncomfortable and overcrowded dwelling circumstances, compelled to reside in triples or makeshift dorms in scholar lounges with none warning. This housing fiasco was brought on by the dearth of planning on Cornell Housing’s half; they may not arrange the big incoming class into the housing system earlier than move-in day. Though this concern is now resolved and college students have been positioned into correct rooms, it displays the continued lack of care, concern and preparation on Housing’s half.

The McGraw homes have been by no means meant to be residence halls. The very design of the homes can’t domesticate a way of scholar group; the isolation from campus and different dorms, lack of lounges or inexperienced space for socialization and the absence of shut eating choices and group occasions all strip away lots of the appeals and charms of a real college residence corridor.  If Cornell Housing will proceed to miss scholar considerations and the poor circumstances that plague the homes on Southwest Campus, then they should cease resorting to former frat homes as scholar housing altogether.

Serin Koh is a 3rd 12 months scholar within the School of Arts and Sciences. Her fortnightly column And That’s the Skoop explores scholar, educational and social tradition, in addition to nationwide points, at Cornell. She might be reached at [email protected].

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