Simpson College Residence Life has had its “fair share” of problems and maintenance requests over the last several years. For some people, maybe too many.

Students come to campus in the fall expecting to get back into the swing of things: see all their friends again, get away from home and get back to their classes. No student on campus comes hoping for a problem like mold, mildew or a bug infestation.

The issue in Kresge Hall was taken care of relatively quickly, but ultimately the students involved had to move to another room in the building. Students should never have to move to another room because of a problem like this (which shouldn’t occur in the first place).

Depending on what building students live in, the problems could be worse, and sometimes maintenance requests like having someone check an air conditioning unit can take up to a month or more to get resolved!

Fox and Behaunek both agree that being proactive is a key step in fighting problems like these. So why don’t Facilities Management and Residence Life work together to fix some of these issues sooner, for example, during the summer, when there are not nearly as many students on campus?

Problems like these don’t just affect students on campus. Eventually, these problems could start influencing the decisions of prospective students who hear about them through friends who attend Simpson already.

Don’t get us wrong. We know that the maintenance workers and staff work extremely hard to make sure that problems like a toilet overflowing or a heater shutting off are fixed right away.

And we are sure that all Simpson students have come into contact at least once with the maintenance workers who come with a smile to fix the nasty problems that sometimes were created by the students themselves.

Our previously-stated main concerns are administrative issues with the way the housing system leaves us with little options and no way to protest, while still draining us of our retirement savings.

So to recap, all we want is for there to be more ‘bang for our buck’ when it comes to fixing problems quickly. But go easy, Simpson students. The next time your toilet breaks and your bathroom is flooding, you might just be kissing the feet of the maintenance worker who bails you out.