For the last two weeks, any time a student living in South Tower needed to do laundry, use the restroom, shower or get a drink of water, they needed to go over to Singular or Trusler. This was the story for Austin Michaelic and many other residents in South Tower. 

The water in both dorms has been periodically shut off since April 11. Students could only use the water during the hours of 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., according to Siqi Wu, sophomore business administration major and South Tower resident. However, the issue has been resolved and students are being compensated $200 for the inconvenience, according to a statement given by Gwen Larson, director of media relations and internal communications.

“I feel like the management in Towers has not been honest with us about everything,” said a resident who wished to remain anonymous. “Like I said, it took them half a week to tell us that water was even safe to drink. We didn’t know if we were going to get sick or anything and no one knew what was going on.” 

This student expressed concern about having their name used because of a fear of retaliation. 

“I’m just worried because I have seen what administration does to people who complain on this campus,” the anonymous resident said. “I’ve noticed that teachers that complain are getting fired. Students who complain get in trouble. So I don’t want my application for housing to be denied.” 

The water issues were caused by old and damaged pipelines getting clogged with paper products. However, this did not make the water unsafe. The solution was to cut out sections of the pipeline and replace them, according to Cass Coughlin, Residential Life Administration director. While this process was happening, the water would be shut off in the evenings to avoid water waste buildup. 

“But you’d think that they’d take care of the plumbing knowing that this was at least a mildly old building,” said Maya Lee, sophomore psychology major and South Tower resident. “No. No, we’re still here and we still don’t have reliable water for a week, which is wild because they house hundreds of students in this building, so you’d think they’d, you know, take care and be able to provide water, considering they are having us pay considerably exorbitant rent.”

Residents in the South Towers dorms haven’t been able to do laundry at any point in the day and haven’t been able to use restrooms and other facilities in the evenings. This means that students have to go to Singular and Trusler to do laundry, use the restroom, shower or get a drink of water, according to Austin Michaelis, junior theater major and South Towers resident. 

“Honestly, it’s just wildly inconvenient, which I’m sure you know,” Lee said. “I understand that they need to take care of it and that labor and work to fix it takes time.”

Each state has a handbook formulating the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants. The third listed responsibility for landlords in the Kansas handbook is to provide an adequate amount of hot and cold running water. However, student residents aren’t guaranteed the same rights as a tenant. 

“I do know if I were in an apartment where the water was out, my landlord wouldn’t tell me to go to an attached apartment building to get water,” Heidenreich said. “They would provide me another place to stay while they are fixing the problem.”