Picture this: like every other weekday morning, you’re asleep in your dorm. You’re jolted awake by a sudden sound and physical shaking that makes you believe there’s a catastrophic event occurring right outside your door. You dart out of bed and into the hallway to find three rooms and one entrance to the restroom blocked off, ceiling to floor, by an opaque piece of plastic. The plastic sheet has a zipper in the middle, resembling a door, and a sign taped to the front that says, “NO ACCESS. WORK IN PROGRESS. Bathroom accessible through other door.”
This is the daily disruption that upended resident life two weeks ago in the Parsons wing of Bean East. Residents woke up to a branch of their hall under renovation, much like the construction underway at Bean West. For the next two weeks, construction workers roamed the halls unannounced while the residents of the floor — all girls — tried not to be uncomfortable walking to and from the showers. Construction workers also took breaks at the table located in Parsons, usually a place for residents to talk to family and friends on the phone if their roommate needs quiet.
Not only did the construction cause spatial disruptions within the hall, it caused major sleep disruptions, too. The construction inside Parsons was the same as the room renovations being done in Bean West, except that people are paying to live in Parsons, and Bean West is completely vacant. So, the sounds of taking down concrete slabs, knocking out windows, and constant jack-hammering filled Parsons every day Monday through Friday, starting at 9 a.m.
“I’m pissed that they decided to do this in the hall that we currently live in,” said Sarah Case, a Parsons resident. “They have three rooms at the end of the hall in Parsons blocked off. And they also blocked off part of the bathroom entrances.”
Jenna Candland is a resident of Parsons, and she doesn’t have class until the afternoon during the week. Candland was very accustomed to sleeping in during the week, when all of the sudden she was woken up at 9 a.m. every day for two weeks. Not only was this going on for two weeks, but it was also happening during midterms week. Residents were unable to live by their normal sleeping schedule during this time, exacerbating studying difficulties.
Other residents have less of an issue with the construction workers being there — it’s that they come and go unannounced. All of Bean East received weekly impact reports of disruptions that might happen and what tools would be used; however, Parsons residents were never informed of any construction that would be happening inside of their hall.
“I think it’s fine that they’re there, but they don’t give us any [warning] when they will be there,” said Claire McNamee, also a Parsons resident. “So we get kind of blindsided when they are there because like it’s quiet back there and all of the sudden the zipper goes flying up and it’s like ‘Shit!’”
Parsons quiet hours are effective until 10 a.m., and this construction started an hour prior to the end of quiet hours. Not only was this during quiet hours, but this was completely unannounced to residents, even in weekly impact reports emailed to the residents of Bean East.
The impact reports tell all residents of Bean East what trucks and tools will be used on which days. The report has no mention of construction inside the hall, or that construction will start at 9 a.m.
“As … part of efforts to continue to provide you with information about the renovation and what to expect, the company has provided Weekly Impact Reports. These are being posted in the communities impacted and will be available to you,” according to the email from University Housing Maintenance that is attached to the report.
Many other residents of Bean East had no idea that the construction was even going on inside of Parsons. Clay Beauvais is the President of Bean’s Resident Hall Government for the 2017-18 year. “We [resident hall government] know just as much as the residents, as soon as the rest of the residents know about it,” said Beauvais. “I didn’t know that there were construction workers going through halls…so that’s insane.”
Rooms in Bean East on the 15th Street side have two windows knocked out just like Bean West’s windows. Residents are living in Bean East two doors down from those knocked out windows. Parsons residents want specific information from the university on when construction workers will be there, and where exactly they’ll be walking through, according to Parson resident Sydney Stephens. Stephens explained that Parsons residents are still paying to live there, and they would like to be treated as such.
As of Oct. 27, the construction inside the hallways has been cleared, and there is no word from University Housing Maintenance on if and when it will be back. The construction noise remains just as disruptive as they continue to demolish parts of Bean West right outside of Parsons. According to Sarah Ramos, a Parsons resident, “It has not ‘Bean’ a good few weeks.”
Follow Rylee Kahan on Twitter: @ryleekahan