Limit construction days and times in Elder Hall and refund student housing fees.
Limit construction days and times in Elder Hall and refund student housing fees.
The Issue
Students who committed to living in Elder Residential Hall for the 2018-2019 school year were at no time notified, prior to placement, that continual construction would be taking place in the building while the school year was in progress. In fact, Northwestern promoted that the construction was to take place over the Summer of 2018 and was to have been completed by move-in and the start of the school year in Fall 2018.
This construction is extremely loud. Construction has started as early as 6:30 AM on weekdays and usually continues until 6-7 PM. Sunday is the only day of peace and quiet for students living in Elder as construction occurs on Saturdays as well. Some of the noise levels that students are exposed to in their dorm room and common areas exceed the safe decibel limit. The work being done vibrates the walls, floor and furnishings in many of the dorm rooms and common areas. The students have received no break from this construction. It went through much of last quarter and is set to continue through the end of the school year.
In addition, many attempts were made during reading week and finals week to have the construction stopped or limited to a shorter number of hours during the day. All attempts failed, including countless emails and phone calls to the construction manager, as well as emails and conversations with the residential housing advisors. There is no doubt that this non-stop, relentless construction schedule has directly affected the use of the dorms as they quite literally feel uninhabitable. Many students have experienced sleep deprivation due to the long hours of construction. The students' overall well-being and mental health has been negatively affected. More concerning is that this has been detrimental to many of the students' grades and academic performance.
The conditions that the students have been required to live and study in have been completely detrimental and entirely unacceptable.
Since this construction occurs INSIDE the building, we ask that the construction in Elder be limited to the hours of 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM on WEEKDAYS ONLY when most of us are attending our classes.
We request that all students receive a reimbursement for, or are credited, the 2018-2019 housing fees.
We propose a full investigation into the effects of the construction and housing conditions on students' academic grades and performance as well as their mental and emotional well-being.
Link to a sample of the construction noise:
The Issue
Students who committed to living in Elder Residential Hall for the 2018-2019 school year were at no time notified, prior to placement, that continual construction would be taking place in the building while the school year was in progress. In fact, Northwestern promoted that the construction was to take place over the Summer of 2018 and was to have been completed by move-in and the start of the school year in Fall 2018.
This construction is extremely loud. Construction has started as early as 6:30 AM on weekdays and usually continues until 6-7 PM. Sunday is the only day of peace and quiet for students living in Elder as construction occurs on Saturdays as well. Some of the noise levels that students are exposed to in their dorm room and common areas exceed the safe decibel limit. The work being done vibrates the walls, floor and furnishings in many of the dorm rooms and common areas. The students have received no break from this construction. It went through much of last quarter and is set to continue through the end of the school year.
In addition, many attempts were made during reading week and finals week to have the construction stopped or limited to a shorter number of hours during the day. All attempts failed, including countless emails and phone calls to the construction manager, as well as emails and conversations with the residential housing advisors. There is no doubt that this non-stop, relentless construction schedule has directly affected the use of the dorms as they quite literally feel uninhabitable. Many students have experienced sleep deprivation due to the long hours of construction. The students' overall well-being and mental health has been negatively affected. More concerning is that this has been detrimental to many of the students' grades and academic performance.
The conditions that the students have been required to live and study in have been completely detrimental and entirely unacceptable.
Since this construction occurs INSIDE the building, we ask that the construction in Elder be limited to the hours of 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM on WEEKDAYS ONLY when most of us are attending our classes.
We request that all students receive a reimbursement for, or are credited, the 2018-2019 housing fees.
We propose a full investigation into the effects of the construction and housing conditions on students' academic grades and performance as well as their mental and emotional well-being.
Link to a sample of the construction noise:
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Petition created on April 12, 2019