By Danielle Marano
Staff Writer
Student opinion varies when discussing the dorm life here at LIU Post. Of course, every person has a complaint because nothing is perfect. I have lived in Riggs Hall for two and a half years now, and personally feel the dorms here are sufficient, and that many students complain too much. That being said, there are a few things I would improve in the dorms. For example, there is no WiFi in the residence halls.
If students feel it necessary to have their own WiFi, they are newly permitted — as of last year — to bring their own router. While this is definitely helpful, I don’t feel it’s fair to make students buy a router in order to have Internet access in their rooms. The school should provide residents with Internet, because we already pay quite a lot of money to live on campus.
Also, the mini kitchenettes in each building aren’t really helpful. These kitchenettes are usually in each hallway, but some are located in the basement and on the upper floors. In Riggs, we have to either go downstairs or upstairs to use a microwave. These microwaves aren’t powerful and take forever to heat anything – they also burn students’ popcorn daily. Other than the bad microwaves, there is also a single sink; we have no access to a stove or an oven. I believe campus life needs to reevaluate these communal kitchens so that students can cook their own food, especially when the dining halls are closed.
I also believe each building should have air conditioning for those first brutally hot weeks after move-in day. Brookville, one of the residence halls, provides self-controlled air conditioners in each room. This is the only hall with A/C and it costs an extra fee to live there because of this feature. The other dorms have no air conditioner, and we are not permitted to bring our own. We can bring a fan, but it’s not enough to keep cool. Luckily, the heat is only an issue for a short amount of time, as most students do not live in the dorms during the hot summer months.
Though there are some negative aspects to dorm life, there are positives too. The actual quality of the dorms is decent enough to keep myself and many other students living here throughout our years at Post. For example, the bathrooms and hallways are kept very clean. Maintenance staff cleans the bathrooms two to three times per day. When I use the showers and bathrooms in the morning, I never find a mess. I have heard stories about other schools with disgusting bathrooms. Of course, there are times where students make a mess of the halls and such, but they are quickly cleaned up most of the time.
I also think the rooms are decently sized. I have lived in a double for the past few years, and it is definitely big enough for two students to live comfortably. Post also offers triples that are even larger and have a greater amount of space. I had enough room to bring an extra piece of furniture to store more clothing, and the room still didn’t feel cramped.
Though I have heard some complaints about the furniture in the rooms, I feel that the desks given to us are larger than students need. I have never had an issue with fitting my supplies, and neither has my roommate. The beds aren’t huge, but having bigger beds would just take up unnecessary space and make the rooms seem smaller. They’re big enough to sleep on comfortably.
Each year before move in day, the rooms are completely cleaned and sanitized from the year prior. I have never come into the building and been disgusted with the quality of a room. The Residence Assistants, Campus Life Coordinators, and staff here do a wonderful job of making sure residents come into a safe, clean space each semester.
Anjelica Roman, a senior Arts Management major who dorms in Riggs Hall, agrees that there are positives aspects about dorming. “My keypad stopped working for my door recently, and Facilities was attentive and quick to fix the problem,” she said. Roman and many other Post residents, including myself, do feel that there improvements can be made, but Post isn’t a bad place to live. It has most certainly become our home away from home.
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