"We live together, we die together." So read signs that went up on Carmichael's fifth floor last weekend.
Yet, although the residents of four coveted Carmichael triples were told that they would have to relocate due to problems with the Carmichael roof, hope is in store for residents of three of the rooms.
Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman was informed by Residential Facilities that the roof has "lost water tightness;" while some ceilings have moisture problems, at least one of the rooms actually has a substantial leak.
Facilities will install diverters into the roof, which will deflect the water away from the rooms. Though a temporary solution, it will hopefully allow the fifth floor residents to finish out the year.
The residents of Room 503, which has the most dramatic roof leak, will be forced to move out regardless of the diverters. The three residents have requested to move into one of the lounges in Carmichael, which Facilities has agreed to convert into a bedroom.
Though she saw no visible water damage in her own room 505, sophomore Brielle Treece described neighboring room 503 as having "gaping holes in the ceiling."
Residents were up in arms when they found out they were to be relocated from the dormitory move due to problems with the Carmichael roof in an e-mail last Friday.
The residents were told they would be moved according to their lottery numbers. While three of the rooms were allowed to move into new triples in Carmichael and Hill Hall, the room with the lowest average would be forced to split up.
Since Friday, administration members like Yolanda King, Director of the Office of Residential Life and Learning (ORLL), and Reitman have been working with Facilities to resolve the issue.
The e-mail sparked revolt, eliciting parent phone calls, the fliers in the hallway, and a Facebook.com group called "Save Carmichael 5th Floor" (The group's list now logs 79 members.).
"I think that it was very irresponsible on the part of the university to let us move in when they knew there was a problem," said Miriam Gale, a fifth floor Carmichael resident, of the situation. "We have been receiving contradictory, incomplete, and constantly changing information from administration members."
"It was, more than anything, just confusing," said Treece.
Sophomore Claire Hollocou, who lives in room 504, was upset that they received the news on a Friday, when administrative offices would be closed for the next few days.
Given the outcry, the administration worked to put together a compromise. "We talked with a lot of the women [living in Carmichael's fifth floor] over the weekend, and this morning we really pushed back on Facilities to see if we could fix the issues and make the rooms useable for this year," Reitman said. "For three of the four rooms, their answer by the middle of the day was yes they can."
The residents of these rooms will still have the option to relocate if they so choose or if the solution proves to be unsuccessful.
Reitman says that he had no prior knowledge of this issue. "It's a maintenance problem that facilities thought they had found a solution for, but it didn't hold up."
With the transformation of one of the lounges into a dorm room, Reitman wants to prevent other Carmichael residents from losing their recreational area, which he believes becomes especially important during midterms and finals. "While it's not okay as a bedroom, we hope to turn that triple into some sort of lounge, so as not to lose recreational space," he said.
For now, the residents of the four rooms who were permitted to stay are overjoyed by this news. "If we would have had to move we would have all been devastated, and it would have really had a negative impact on the rest of our year," Treece said.
Reitman assures that the administration plans to proceed with repairing the roof. Carmichael will undergo major, and more permanent, renovations this upcoming summer, he said.
