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Hot water was restored last Tuesday to University campus dormitories after an absence of almost one week due to a boiler explosion.
The April 16 blast damaged a major valve in the steam system on campus causing all buildings to lose heat and hot water. Esker Dining Hall was also closed for five days, and students living on the east side of campus near Wells residence halls had to walk to either Drumlin Dining Hall or the University Center.
Student Services Program Manager of Residence Life Terry Tumbarello said the university accommodated students in the best ways possible. The Athletic Services building was open for students living in the residence halls to take hot showers until the steam valve is fixed, because it isn't connected to the same pipeline.
"I've been incredibly happy with how positive and good natured students have been," Tumbarello said. "It's clearly not ideal but I'm hearing from everybody it's not the end of the world and they know this is something that happened that nobody planned for. We're doing the best we can to get through it."
Sophomore Thomas Sisulak said he would not walk from his dorm to the athletic building just to take a shower.
"I can take being cold for five minutes," Sisulak said. "Personally if it involves having to arrange that into your schedule, because there are only set hours to take a shower, to me it's not worth it."
Courtney Bunderson, an administrative assistant at the Athletic Services Complex said only about 15 students used the showers during her shift on Monday from about 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Keiva Coppage, a freshman living in Knilans, said she used the showers despite the fact that the showers are communal.
"It's an adjustment for people who don't want to broadcast their bodies, but I've been coping," Coppage said. "I think that's the main reason. And I think because of the walk too, I've heard people say, 'I'd rather take cold showers than walk.'"
Tumbarello said cold showers were the biggest inconvenience to students, but the temporary closing of Esker also affected those living on the east side of campus.
Freshman Patrick Stansell said he went to off campus or to Drumlin to eat.
"Or I went to the UC since they were offering meal transfers," Stansell said. "It was better than what they were serving at Drumlin. I'm happier that Prairie Street [Café] reopened than Esker. I was missing the late-night meal transfers. It's good to have those back."
Executive Director of Residence Life Jeff Janz said to boost student morale about the boiler explosion, Residence Life is making T-shirts and posters for every student living in the residence halls.
"In a certain way it acknowledges the fact we know it was an inconvenience and help people understand that it was no one's fault, it wasn't deliberate, and it was an unfortunate situation for the whole community," Janz said. "We want to kind of have fun with it, make light of it a little bit, and at the same time let people know they've been very accommodating during a tough time."
T-shirts will be distributed today at no cost to students.
Janz said Student Affairs administrators have been meeting to discuss how the event was handled and what could have been done differently.
"For example we didn't communicate as much to off-campus students even though they may have hear [the explosion] or had friends that were concerned about it," Janz said. "Perhaps in a different situation, we might communicate more to all 10,000 students rather than just the 3,500 living on campus."
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