There are a few—some might say many— widely held sources of complaints amongst Jewell’s student body; whether it is the persistently inconsistent, yet dependably uncomfortable, building temperatures or the inconvenient lack of parking. Amidst these things we all care to complain about are laundry services and etiquette. I asked a few students about their experiences.

Not long ago, an unnamed senior experienced what some would call, or at least the senior would, a blatant disregard for basic laundry room etiquette. After placing her clothes in the Melrose dormitory washers, she left her dryer balls on each washer lid with the intent of conveniently placing them with each load once they were moved to a dryer. However, a fellow Melrose resident had other plans. The senior returned promptly, a short thirty-five minutes later, to find her dryer balls missing.

The senior, a force to not be reckoned with, waited to see who the culprit was. It did not take long before the culprit revealed themselves. The culprit denied knowing how the dryer balls wound up in their laundry. However, the senior remains convinced that the dryer balls were taken and used by the culprit and not a mysterious third party. Understandably, the senior does not find the idea of a random havoc inducing laundry room distuber convincing.

When asked about her thoughts on appropriate laundry room etiquette, the senior responded, “As a rule, don’t touch other people’s stuff.” She did, however, add a few further considerations: “Because laundry is free, I think it’s okay to move someone’s clothes from the dryers into the washers after waiting five to 10 minutes. It also makes sense to me to move laundry out of the dryers. If you really don’t want people to touch your stuff, do what I do and make sure to move your laundry soon after it is done.” The senior further emphasized, “If it’s not to free up washers or dryers, leave other people’s things alone.”

Proper laundry room etiquette is a topic that students often discuss. Students tend to fall on two sides of the issue. On the one hand, many students argue residents should remove their own laundry within the five to 10 minute window, give or take a few minutes. It’s your stuff, you are responsible for it, or so the argument goes. Other’s adopt the position offered by the previously mentioned senior. As college students, we all have busy lives. It’s understandable if a resident forgets their laundry or does not return to move it for a while. Laundry is free, so it’s not much of an inconvenience for others to move laundry from washers to dryers. However, residents should not take offense if their laundry is moved after five to 10 minutes.

Besides appropriate laundry room behavior, students also have serious complaints about laundry services. Sophomore Kandace Gill notes, “Machines are often broken or occupied, so I usually go off of campus to the laundromat to avoid any issues.” While students enjoy free services on campus, they come with several problems. Many students complain of the lack of washers and dryers available. Yet, the biggest inconvenience is probably the weak dryers. It often takes two to three cycles to fully dry clothes, even when students only partially fill dryers.

To mitigate these problems, students have devised a few coping mechanisms. Some, like Gill, do their laundry off campus either at parents’ houses or at other locations. Some students do laundry at less busy times, such as on Sunday mornings when most students choose to sleep in. To navigate around drying problems, many students choose to air dry their damp clothes when one dryer cycle is not enough.

One of the perks of going to Jewell is free laundry. Undeniably, inappropriate laundry room behavior and recent service issues take a bit of the shine off of the deal. With a shift to more thoughtful laundry room etiquette and a few maintenance repairs, laundry would be one less topic for Jewell students to complain about.

The Spectrum Enterprise SpectrumU TV webpage explains that the university-based service “enables colleges and universities to meet this expectation and provide more on-campus value by enabling students to watch TV anytime and anywhere.” Over 200 channels of shows, movies and games are available to watch from near any modern smart device or streaming device, anywhere on campus. Channel availability may waver if off campus while the program is in the early stages. However, this will change in the near future. 

“We will be working on new technology to expand SpectrumU services off-campus starting late this fall or early this spring (it’s currently only available on-campus). This will allow students to use the service from home and student athletes can view TV and movies while on the road at away games,” Stufflebean said. 

The service promises a smooth and efficient experience, as Spectrum states on their website. 

“[Rely] on our exceptional content delivery network to help students stay informed and entertained. Because SpectrumU is IP-delivered, it requires no on-campus equipment to purchase, power or maintain. That saves you time, money and effort while creating the reliability students expect,” the website states.

The introduction of the Speed Queen app, coupled with the new laundry machines across campus, looks to ease a common student complaint around campus. The app is compatible with college-provided iPads, along with other devices. 

“We know students have very busy schedules. This new service will be a time-saver. We hope it will also reduce students forgetting their laundry and occupying machines,” Stufflebean said. 

In addition to being notified of when your clothes are ready to be taken out of the washer or dryer or when machines are available, the app is also capable of detecting when machines need maintenance. Stufflebean promises that a technician will respond to said alert within 24 hours. 

“The new service provider will also service machines every two weeks. Well maintained machines with less down time will reduce student inconvenience and frustration,” said Stufflebean. 

Stufflebean emphasized he isn’t done improving the daily lives of students, stating that faculty, staff and administration will continue to listen to students. 

“Student input and feedback is an important part of our work in improving student life on The Hill. We are committed to affecting change where we can to provide students with an outstanding co-curricular and residential experience,” concluded Stufflebean.