| Afrikan Heritage House Still
Not Satisfied
By Tiffany Beason
On Wednesday October 5, 2005, Afrikan Heritage House (AHH) held an UMOJA*
Meeting where residents met with staff from the Residential Education
Office to discuss a sewage leak from September 18, 2005. Keith Watkins,
Associate Director of Residential Education Facilities and Customer
Service, Terri Shaw, Program House Residential Director, and Molly Tyson,
Director of Residential Education were some of the staff members present.
The meeting occurred just 6 days after residents and other students
protested the leak in front of the Residential Education offices in
Stevenson.
Watkins explained that Charlotte Collins, AHH (Saunders side) Resident
Assistant, reported a sewage water leak from the laundry room that was
spreading into the halls. The plumber arrived on campus almost 1 and
a half hour later, after the leak had overflowed the halls with over
an inch of gray water. Once the plumber finally got all the water shut
off the custodial services were called and “the carpet was cleaned
with CX3, a biodigester bacteria enzyme that eats and inhibits odor-causing
bacteria,” said Watkins, “[The process was] done multiple
times to make sure there were no health risks.”
Still, disgruntled residents protested the following week.
The residents’ dissatisfaction was because they, by and large,
believed sewage-filled water permeated the carpet and that the carpet
should have been replaced and not cleaned. Residents were angry that
they were not given emergency rooms. Molly Tyson responded, “no
one requested to have emergency rooms.”
Watkins and other staff members said that the probability was extremely
low that the water contained feces or urine. He explained that there
are three types of water: drinkable water, gray water, which contains
shower, laundry room and sink drainage, and black water, which contains
toilet drainage (feces and urine). He continued to say that the water
that leaked from the Saunders laundry room was gray water that did not
contain feces and urine, as residents suspected.
When residents questioned the odor in the halls, Watkins assured them
that the smell was from bacteria and not human waste. When asked why
the residents were not made aware that the water was “gray,”
the staff replied that Charlotte Collins sent an email to residents
explaining that the leakage was gray water.
Watkins explained that the same procedure of cleaning the carpet would
have been used even if the leak had been black water and that the carpet
does not need to be replaced. Yet it was decided to replace the carpet
in the hall and in two rooms because of unrelenting “registered
unhappiness.” Staff members explained that they wanted residents
to feel safe and comfortable in the living spaces and they would do
what they could to maintain satisfaction. Watkins told residents that
the carpet would be replaced by the fourteenth of October.
As of yet, all of the carpeting affected by the leak has not been replaced.
However, Residential Education has begun the task and is continuing
to work.
AHH residents appeared satisfied with the short-term goals, but inquired
about possible renovation of “the house” as a whole. Students
argued that the 40-year-old worn structure does not reflect the importance
of the program house to Oberlin College. Molly Tyson encouraged students
to go to a class trustee open forum on October 6t, 2005 to vocalize
their concerns to trustee members, because the Board of Trustees makes
the final decision on which buildings are renovated during the summer.
The meting ended with a soulful rendition of the Afrikan Heritage House
song led by Darryle Johnson, class of 2007.
*Umoja is the Swahili word for unity. Umoja is also the first principle
of Kwanzaa.
Back To Front
Page
|
