Residents at Davis Apartments need no alarm clock. The 7 a.m. construction work for the new residence hall is their wake-up call every morning.
The estimated completion of the new dorm in 2007 is not soon enough, according to residents at Davis Apartments. All the problems and distractions are making it hard for students to study, and especially hard for them to live comfortably.
Resident James Ratledge lives in a room directly in front of the construction site. “It’s impossible to sleep once they’ve started,” he said. “I’m always up right at seven.”
Ratledge, like many other residents, has the construction trailer right outside of his room. “It is so close to room,” he said. “They’re practically on top of us.”
Parking on campus is never easy. However, it’s especially hard when more than half the parking lot is closed off. “One of the biggest changes for Davis, Cooper and McCord was a loss in parking spaces behind McCord,” said Bonnie Burchett, director of Housing and Residence Life. “However, Davis gained some spaces because their renovation was completed and they do not have to share Lot 11 with F. [Frank] Clement residents anymore.”
Those students who park there risk getting their cars dirty from the dirt and debris from the site. “I never park my truck there because I don’t want to wash it every day,” said resident Travis Brown.
The most common complaint among residents has been the recent scheduled power outages and the cable and phone malfunctions. Several times throughout the last few weeks, residents have been without phone or cable. There was no warning of these inconveniences, but they occurred quite frequently.
“Anytime there is a planned outage of any kind, we try to do it when the least number of people are affected and get it completed as quickly and efficiently as possible,” Burchett said.
“We try to communicate to residents what, when, where and how long the outage is going to take and keep them informed.”
Flyers informing residents of scheduled power outages were posted on residents’ doors for two Sundays in a row. The power was to be out from 7 a.m. to about 6 p.m.
This was especially difficult for students who do not live near campus. “I had nowhere to go,” Ratledge said. “I could go out to eat but after that I could not go anywhere else and wait all day for the power to come back on.”
Burchett and the housing office are trying to avoid more of these problems but sometimes there is no other option. “As the project continues, we certainly will try to be aware of and responsive to any complaints we receive from any of the residents on the east side [of campus] and try to eliminate or minimize the disruptions and inconveniences as best as we can,” Burchett said. “As we renovated Davis last year, there were some occasional disruptions for all the residents on the east side; however, we were able to renovate it in stages that allowed us to accommodate students during the process and now they have a nice, renovated apartment.”
Many residents of Davis are upset with the inconveniences they have faced this semester. “We pay the most to live here and we get the least,” Brown said.

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