To Be Fair, Every Student Needs Cool Air

How many people would rather sit in their cool, air-conditioned room studying or sweating to death, while trying to concentrate on the task in front of them?

Personally, I would rather be cool and enjoy my time in college, rather than wonder if I am going to change clothes a million times when I don't even go outside. 

Living on Campus is a choice many students make for various reasons such as; they can't drive, and it is easier to go to classes if you are already living on campus, or you live too far to commute.

Half of the time it isn't even a choice. Choosing where you live on campus may not even be a choice. Of course, we have room lottery where we can choose our dorm and the room we may possibly live in, and most would choose Shaw, Thatcher, or the suites with air condition; but what about the people who don't get a choice? What if one of those places does not work out because the air conditioned dorms are full?

It is a well-known fact that when it comes to freshmen, most of them are stuck in one of the three traditional dorms on East Campus: Gardiner, Kenamond, or Turner.

While each of them is as good as Shaw and Thatcher, there is one major flaw in the freshmen dorms: no air conditioning.  I know it has been said that air conditioning units can't be put in these dorms because they plan to tear the buildings down, since they are on a fault line, and there isn't enough electric power.

In my eyes, there are no excuses for letting the students suffer in the dorms because of the heat. Yes we get to bring fans to cool our room down, but in all honesty, how much can fans do?  They provide a breeze, but not much else. If anyone believes that fans can keep a whole room cool is sadly mistaken.  Fans also run up the electric bill because they waste more energy.  How is that more efficient?

There can be serious problems if the heat issue is not addressed in a more practical way. Students can get sick from being too hot, they can't sleep, and concentration on homework will diminish.

To escape these possible situations, students retreat to the buildings on campus with air conditioning until they close just so they can feel cool and not uncomfortable.  It isn't right that students have to leave their own room just to find some kind of relief from the heat.  In the library, I found two freshmen students and asked them their opinion on the lack of air conditioning.

Will Brown (a freshman) says "We need air conditioning.  We are new and it's frustrating."

The other student, Jaime Amaya (a freshman) made the comment, "It's as hot as Africa in the dorms."

The way I see it, having no air conditioning in these buildings, just because they will be torn down one day in the future, is no reason to cause students to suffer. It gives a bad impression on freshmen in those dorms who have to wait until they are upperclassmen to get A/C in their rooms. It's not fair to anyone, no matter what classes they are in, to live in these buildings, while trying to keep cool and not get sick.

Just putting in window units could help cool the rooms down immensely, whether the school puts them in or the students do. These are just ideas, but something has to be done soon before something along the lines of sickness, low grades, and sleep deprivation becomes worse than it is.