Students are frustrated with maintenance workers entering their rooms unsolicited.
Bri Williams, acting sophomore, said a maintenance worker has entered her and her roommate’s apartment at Cokesbury Court Apartments unannounced six times.
“The first time it happened, our downstairs neighbor had a leak in their bathtub. Because of that, they had to go into my roommate’s bathroom a bunch. It was fine at first, but then it kept happening. They would just be knocking on our door, and if we didn’t answer, they would just let themselves in at nine in the morning,” Williams said. “That’s when we’re just waking up and getting ready and we’re showering, and they would let themselves in and say, ‘Okay, we’re going to work on your bathroom now.’”
Williams said she wishes she received notice that the workers were coming.
“It’s just frustrating not knowing when they’re coming, and we didn’t request a work order, so it was really alarming to wake up to,” Williams said.
Williams said she was woken up Friday by a worker knocking on her bedroom door.
“I was asleep in my room and my roommate was out of town and so I had my bedroom door locked,” Williams said. “I’m asleep. It’s like 9:30, and Fridays are the only day I really sleep in. I woke up to knocking on my door, and then a worker said, ‘Maintenance,’ and then he tried to open my door and it was locked.”
Williams said the worker told her he was checking to see if all of the furniture was there.
“I’m glad my door was locked, because if I had woken up to a maintenance man in my room, I really wouldn’t have been cool with it,” Williams said. “It’s just a real lack of privacy.”
Casey Kreger, director of housing and residence life, said Cokesbury has a different maintenance setup than the residence halls.
“Cokesbury is a private-public partnership. OCU owns the land, but Campus Living Villages owns the buildings. While housing staff is down there, we can handle room assignments, RAs and enforcing university policies, but it’s CLV staff that handles all the facilities,” Kreger said.
There are two full-time maintenance workers at Cokesbury, and they are not required to work in pairs, Kreger said.
“For OCU faculty, it is policy to come in pairs for work orders. In Cokesbury, CLV staff are not required to come in pairs because they have a different company there,” Kreger said.
Kreger said there is a lack of communication.
“The goal is to be able to communicate appropriately, so if that means to work with CLV staff to have them better trained to communicate with students, then we will go through that process with them,” Kreger said. “The only staff that has any power to enter without anything would be housing staff, and that’s only for emergency situations or room checks. Your space is your space.”
Kreger said if students have any questions to call the housing office at 405-208-6363. CLV officials were not available for comment Monday.
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