Feature photo courtesy of Koda Widener
Story by Lillian Chapman
MTSU students faced continuous maintenance issues, including plumbing problems and mold in vents, while moving into some of the older residential buildings this semester, resulting in compensation from MTSU Housing.
Womack and Scarlett Commons Apartments are the epicenter of the problems. The plumbing in Womack stopped working at the start of the semester, causing many toilets to continuously leak and overflow or not flush.
Campus housing compensated students who bore the brunt of the issues with FlexBucks, on-campus funds.
“[I]n situations where there is a significant impact on a student’s move in experience, Housing attempts to correct the issue and will sometimes provide some sort of compensation for the experience,” said Michelle Safewright, the director of housing at MTSU, in a statement to Sidelines.
“I had to pause actually moving into my dorm due to the water issue in the bathroom,” Widener said. “I had to get an emergency maintenance for that, and that took me having to convince multiple people that it was an issue.” Widener was one of the 10 students compensated for their troubles.
Other students reported issues of mold in the vents and along the ceilings. Students have had problems with broken doors and failing HVAC systems.
Maintenance has been working to repair the issues in Womack. One student was reportedly told that their maintenance problem in Scarlett would not be fixed until the plumbing and HVAC issues in Womack were fixed.
“One of my friends who lived there [Womack] over the summer jokingly told us to ‘make sure to have maintenance on speed dial,’” said Widener.
In 2022, the demolition of Womack Lane apartments was discussed in order to build modernized campus housing, and in 2023, a proposal was made to begin the process of redeveloping Womack Lane. Still, students have been dealing with issues in the outdated apartments.
Lillian Chapman is a reporter for MTSU Sidelines.
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