The fall of South Campus

KYLE SCHECK
PHOTOGRAPHER

KYLE CHOKAS
COPY EDITOR

1/20/2025

We choose where we want to live on campus for many reasons. For some, it’s the convenience of where you live in comparison to your classes. For others, it’s based on who you are living with. At Alma College, students have the option to live on the “North” or “South Campus”.

I came to Alma College my sophomore year as a transfer student from Central Michigan University. This means I bypassed living in the first-year residence halls, Gelston and Bruske, and jumped right into living in Newberry. This year – my junior year – I live in Wright Hall and the differences between my experiences on both North and South campuses are wildly different.

While I’ve enjoyed living on South Campus more due to the private living spaces, it has been more of a hassle in regards to putting in work and maintenance orders and acquiring toilet paper, among other issues. 

In Wright Hall, one of the biggest issues that me and my roommates have experienced is the fact that the sinks don’t like to drain. In these apartment style living spaces, we have two vanities with sinks, a kitchen sink and a bathtub. Every single drain in our unit doesn’t work properly and we have had to put in multiple work orders to have the issue resolved. 

I have personally timed how long it took for work orders to be completed in regard to my apartment and it is noticeably longer than it took when putting in work orders while living on North Campus. 

While in Newberry Hall, on North Campus, the locks on the bathroom doors rarely worked the way that they should have, and I had the unfortunate experience of going to use the bathroom and accidentally walking in on someone. I had immediately put a work order in, and the issue was fixed by the end of the day.

As we return to campus for the winter semester, South Campus residents, specifically in Wright Hall, were notified that the process to have our toilet paper restocked has grown even more complicated than it was. 

Students living in Wright Hall are now supposed to request toilet paper in Housekeeping on the Work Order portal, then walk across campus to Trower Hall. For those who don’t know where that is, like most people on campus, Trower Hall is across the street from the 7 Star Convivence Store. 

That is at least a six-minute walk there, and once you arrive, you’re given four rolls, one roll per resident in your apartment unit, and you must continue this process every single time you want your toilet paper restocked. 

The process used to be much simpler than it is now. Toilet paper was stored in maintenance closets, in bulk, and students could restock it as they needed it. 

On top of all of that, we have also had problems with our heating and air conditioning, with it not being properly dispersed around the apartment. With the heat on in these freezing times, about only half of our apartment is warm, and we frequently must layer our clothes to stay warm. I’ve heard from numerous others who live in the same building, that them hear also does not work properly. We’ve all put work orders in, but it doesn’t seem like this issue is getting fixed. 

Overall, South Campus residents, while getting a little more freedom and luxury compared to North Campus, pay the price by losing easy access to basic amenities such as toilet paper, working heat, and quick fixes to problems like drainage issues. It doesn’t seem like these issues are going to be resolved for residents any time soon.