With students filling the residence halls on campus here at California Lutheran University, it would come as no surprise if residents have occasional maintenance issues in their rooms.

The Facility Operations at CLU are busy with different types of work order requests and other on-campus projects.

The Facility Operations receive roughly 20 to 30 work order requests a day and about 50 on a heavy day, according to Mark Jacobsen, director of facilities management.

Facilities work on emergencies first and then other basic requests.

“Students will call requesting furniture corrections, like raising the beds, which has a lower priority, and typically, we try to get to those within three days,” Jacobsen said.

“If a student calls in and they’ve got an overflowing toilet, then that’s something that we get to immediately.”

For some students, there can be many issues with their residence halls that require assistance from facilities.

The air conditioner/heater can sporadically stop functioning, light bulbs might go out or even the shower head could just decide to break off one night.

Sophomore Jenna Logan attempted to place a work order for a broken heater during the cold season.

“We sent an email telling them our room number and our problem that we’re having and they’re supposed to get back to you,” Logan said.

“Apparently, our work order didn’t go through after multiple attempts, so we didn’t have a heater for three weeks during the winter.”

Aside from Logan’s difficulties with the website, she said facilities get their work done quickly and they’re able to work around students’ schedules.

Although Facility Operations have their priorities with work orders, they might not always be there right away to assist.

Freshman Lauren Chrislu had an unfortunate experience with facilities.

“I had to call facilities because our air conditioner leaked and then we had a flood that covered half of our floor,” Chrislu said.

“They said they would come in a couple hours, but never showed up. After calling them five days in a row about our major leak, they told us to wait.”

Eventually, Facility Operations went to the residence hall and fixed their leak. Chrislu’s example would be considered an emergency, but the staff must have been busy during that time period.

She still believes they are good at getting the job done once they show up.

“I would say they’re not a dependable source, but once they work on the problem they do a good job,” Chrislu said.

When it comes to facilities and different types of work orders, we need to be patient if it is not an emergency.

If you consider how many students live on campus and compare them to how many employees there are in the facility department, then maybe we’ll understand why they took a few days to raise our bed.

“We have 12 guys on the trade staff, 12 people on grounds and we have 22 in housekeeping,” Jacobsen said.

These facility staff members are working for thousands of students, making them frequently busy as they respond to work orders.

If the facilities department does not respond after a week, then students should follow up and send another request.

Facility Operations are always doing their best to give students who live on campus satisfaction. Just be patient and know that it will get done…eventually.

Ryan Perez
Staff Writer
Published Feb. 5, 2014