It was hot, very hot. You just won’t believe how vastly, mind-bogglingly hot it was. I mean you may think your morning toaster strudel is hot, but that’s just peanuts to Binnewies.

At 97 degrees and 52 percent humidity, it might just be the hottest days this campus has ever seen. While some residents are complaining about how well their air conditioners work, those of us in the older halls are really feeling the heat. So do us a favor, if you are in an air conditioned hall, do not complain about how cold it is, because you can always put on more layers of clothing, whereas you can only take off so many, trust me. 

I am writing to you not only as a steamed resident of Binnewies Hall, but also as a Community Assistant of the same. Thus, when I was pulled into an emergency meeting with all of the other CA’s on campus, I knew that something was going on and that Residential Life officials were feeling the heat all the way from their ice box offices. I thought that meeting was going to be an informational about how hot it is and the dangerous effects of this heat wave. I was in for a surprise. 

Unknown to us all were the plans that Residential Life was boiling up. Leading the meeting was the Associate Vice President of Student Affairs, Doug Wermedal. He explained to us the severity and told us everything that Residential Life was doing. He told us that they had put out water for students to keep hydrated and that they had another 4,400 cases coming in. They had already started organizing mattresses in all of the day rooms in air-conditioned halls. They had opened The Union 24 hours so that students could have a place to cool off and also extended the hours for Larson Commons. They bought fans for the top 2 floors of each building in an attempt to keep the air flowing.  

He went on by telling us what they planned on doing next. The university spent $70,000 trying to get an air conditioning unit up here from Illinois to cool one of the hottest buildings. Last week, facility staff began tirelessly working to install various kinds of AC units into predetermined rooms. They also, again at a very large price, relocated all of Brown Hall on Tuesday of last week to various hotels around Brookings. The point of the story is simple, it’s hot. However, that is not the moral of the story. The moral of the story is this: SDSU cares for its students. 

Some people may say they are simply trying to avoid a lawsuit but I was in that meeting, I listened to what they were saying, and I can tell you that is not the case. Anyone who has spoken with Doug Wermedal, Jeff Hale, or any of the other Residential Life employees, from the Residence Hall Directors all the way to the Assistant Directors, can tell you that they do care about the wellbeing of each student that goes to this amazing university. 

 

 

Nick Reagan is a sophomore studying political science and economics. He can be emailed at [email protected].