SARA ROSNER
Staff Writer
Residents of Alpha dormitory were pungently surprised when sewage overflowed from the C-suite bathroom two weeks ago.
Sewage started to flood the bathroom on the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 14. Within 30 minutes, the sewage had overflowed into the suite hallway and two bedrooms, freshman and C-suite resident Ryan Phillips said.
“It was so gross,” Phillips said. “It smelled disgusting.”
The eight students of C suite have since returned to their rooms.
“Everything’s functioning now,” Phillips said. “But there was a feeling like ‘did they really replace the couch and the carpet?’”
Phillips said there was a lot of confusion as the eight residents of C-suite were given only minutes to evacuate the premises.
“It was a hectic, chaotic scene,” Phillips said. “We didn’t know what to bring because we didn’t know when we were coming back.”
Alpha RA Jenille Winder said the C-suite students were also upset about property damage.
“There was about two inches of water on the ground,” Winder said. “Most of their stuff was ruined if it wasn’t up high.”
Damaged property was either cleaned or replaced, Housing Director Jim Brock said.
“We really worked with students in getting items replaced,” Brock said.
Winder also said that, while Housing and Community Living officials responded promptly, Public Safety was slow to arrive at the scene.
“Nobody came for at least 45 minutes to an hour,” said Winder, who called several times. “The dispatcher just kept saying they were on the way.”
The students were relocated to the George Page apartments for 10 days while maintenance workers cleaned and repaired the damage, which included replacing the carpets and taking out a wall.
Phillips said the accommodations were satisfying but inconvenient.
“It was really nice. We had beds and desks, but it was inconvenient because it was so far,” Phillips said.
Other residents of the dorm were also affected by the incident.
“It smelled up the entire dorm,” Winder said. In addition to the smell, residents of Alpha had to use the bathrooms of the Beta dormitory when maintenance workers shut off the water to Alpha for two days during the repair.
The cause of the problem is unclear. Maintenance workers had worked on a clogged shower drain the morning of the overflow, Phillips said. She said she thinks that the back-up was caused by a plastic bag that had been flushed down a toilet. Maintenance officials did not return telephone calls regarding the matter.
There was also an overflow in Eaton Hall earlier this month, after someone stuffed paper towels down the toilet of the public restroom.
Housing officials sent an e-mail Sept. 20 to all on-campus hall residents asking them not to “place any baby-wipe type product, feminine hygiene product or other paper other than toilet paper in the toilets.”
Winder said he hopes that all the students comply with the request.
“Don’t flush anything down the toilet, it just creates bedlam,” Winder said.
09-29-2005