Standard fixtures included in campus apartments. Does your apartment have these fixtures? couch a desk for each resident a desk chair for each resident a bed for each resident a dresser w/ all its drawers for each resident one or two chairs for common area a bookcase a coffee table kitchen table and four chairs complete kitchen with all appliances in working order.

Senior Elizabeth Gordon said she has come to know SPU facility maintenance worker Neil De Witt very well since she moved into the Davis apartments in June.

"We've had Neal (the awesome-est Plant worker) up here about 20 times since I moved in," Gordon said in an email, "because everything is breaking one by one -- from faucet to waste disposal, doors to the dishwasher, it has all broken down."

Efforts are being made to improve campus house and apartment living. Associated Students of Seattle Pacific (ASSP) senate unanimously passed a proposal winter quarter to form a Campus Housing and Apartments (CHA) committee to serve as a voice for students who are living in those facilities.

"There has been much concern and debate over the issue of housing, specifically, that more and more students are moving off campus and that the campus facilities aren't being filled," Gordon said.

Gordon is an ASSP senator and a strong advocate for housing renovation and restoration. She said that she is particularly enthusiastic for the CHA committee because it provides a voice for residents who are concerned with the condition of their houses or apartments - even to the point of not wanting to live there.

"I live in Davis now, but last year I was in Robbins and the conditions were terrible. I would sleep over at friends' apartments," she said. "I slept in Davis for a week."

"It's kind of sad that I'd rather sleep on a couch somewhere else rather than in my own apartment," she said.

While senate committees such as the CHA committee can't pay for or directly organize restoration of campus apartments and housing, Gordon said that "senate has the power to encourage things to be done."

The mission of the CHA committee is to help foster and improve community living in the campus apartments and houses; to provide a stronger voice to help the residents say what they want to say, said CHA committee chairman and ASSP CHA Senator, Dan Donohoe. Donohoe said he feels strongly about making the committee open to all CHA residents.

"I want students to feel they can be involved with this committee," said Donohoe, "it's not exclusive."

There are about 450 students living in CHA, according to Donohoe.

Donohoe said that a large goal for the committee is to create the "feel of a public forum for students to voice concerns."

The committee is also working on revising the Robbins Hall constitution to apply to all CHA. According to Donohoe, doing this will help answer the question of how CHA should function in the future.

One of the main functions of the committee is to communicate to the appropriate authorities issues that residents see as priorities on the administration's to-do list, according to Donohoe.

Many students see maintenance and conditions as being the first priority.

"Why on earth would a junior or senior want to live in sub-par housing that costs a butt-load, when they can find something much nicer, for cheaper?" said Gordon. "The issue here is that the apartments on campus are in terrible condition."

Junior Heather Wood, who lives in the Dravus building of the Wesley Apartments, said that housing was a big factor when deciding whether to attend SPU.

"I saw SPU housing when I first came here as a transfer student and I said, 'There's no way I'm living in that,'" Wood said. "It looks like they haven't had maintenance for years."

In order to get a better understanding of what the residents feel is the most important area needing attention, Donohoe said that the committee is working on putting together a survey for Peer Advisors (PAs) to distribute to students to gather their opinions.

"We are an arm of the senate and are still limited with what we can do," said Donohoe. "I just want to make things better for next year and improve some things this year as much as we can. We need student feedback to know where to start."

Amanda Keverkamp is the social and behavioral sciences senator and part of the CHA committee. She said that one of the top goals of the committee is to create better communication between apartment residents and administration and get a better understanding of what they have the power to do.

"We're still figuring out what we can do as a committee," she said. "We want to help the administration understand where we're coming from."

The committee is working with Residence Life to organize their efforts and work with the power they've been granted.

Leigh Hopkins, Residence Life Coordinator for CHA, has great hopes for the committee's effectiveness.

"It is great to see people taking an active interest in where they live and hope that the committee will get a good response and support from residents."

Hopkins said that she also hopes that students will take advantage of the committee's initiative and contribute to their efforts.

"The committee can only guess what residents want, so they (residents) should be actively involved if they want their voice heard," she said. "The committee really wants to hear what residents want so they can advocate for their needs to the office of Residence Life, ASSP, Office of University Services, etc."

A factor largely impacting the condition of CHA is finances.

Budget cuts imposed on maintenance staff, have deeply impacted their ability to service residents' requests to the best of their ability, said John Mansfield, Manager for Building Maintenance.

"When we were cut from three to two staff we had to go to a every two week rotation," he said via email. "We still take care of emergencies as they come up, but green cards could take two to four weeks to resolve of the non-emergency nature."

However, many students wouldn't want to pay the amount necessary to completely fix up their house or apartment because the cost wouldn't seem worth it, according to Don Mortenson, director of business and planning.

"They think in terms of how long they're going to live there," said Mortenson. "It wouldn't seem practical."

Donohoe has been working with Murray Lawson, director of university services, to put together a work sheet that would help students understand the break down of the costs involved in CHA. Most importantly, said Donohoe, students are unclear and concerned about where their money is going.

Director of Universoty Maintenance John Mansfield said that some of the more unusual cleanup requests include "TP (toilet paper) in Hill Hall trees, or the beach that was created in the Hill Hall bathroom a couple of weeks ago, bowling balls on 6th Hill." Pranks have been an issue this year, said Mansfield, and that has been a factor impacting the staff's ability to answer service calls.

"Whenever a prank happens we have to respond and this takes us away from our primary mission and typically results in a large cost to the university," he said.

Mansfield pointed out that students can best help maintain the condition of their living space and avoid damage fees by making sure to inform maintenance staff of any problems.

"Many times we find out there have been problems for an entire year that were never reported to us and the new residents are upset as to the problem," he said. "The old adage 'we can't fix what we do not know about' is true."

Mansfield explained that typically maintenance is "inundated by requests at the end of the year" because students realize that they will be fined by a problem in their unit and want it fixed right away.

He said that while he can't guarantee that Housing will not levy a fine, "If those repairs were shared with us in advance then it could be taken care of quicker," because the work load is more spread out.

Kevercamp lives in the Davis apartments. In the beginning of the year, she said, her and her roommates made several service calls. Their apartment was a mess.

"We can see why there are so many unfilled beds," she said.

"Some of our apartments were never deep-cleaned like we were told they would, and I lived in probably the worst apartment in Robbins," said Gordon.

"When you fix something and it's nicer than you found it, you know there's a problem," she said. "You shouldn't have to scrub things or find them dirty when you move in."

Mortenson agreed that the maintenance needed for CHA is a problem, but said it is difficult to address because SPU does not have the funds to do upgrades.

"It's a Catch-22. On current basis we would need to raise rents to do upgrades on current housing -- but that would cause students to move off campus because it's too expensive," he said.

Mortenson said that, as it is set up now, the budget for housing stands on its own and students are charged only enough as is necessary.

"Housing is self-contained," he said. "What is paid for housing is used for housing."

Gordon said she believes that more attention needs to be directed toward the condition of housing if SPU is to keep a steady flow of students living on campus.

"If SPU wants to keep the money of students rolling in for housing, then they MUST improve the conditions of the apartments to add incentive!" said Gordon in an email.

About an average of $10 million is gained from housing, but Mortenson said that can't be relied on to balance the entire budget. It covers just the cost of housing.

"It's in everyone's best interest to maintain housing for retention because it keeps costs down."

The rate at which housing can be fixed up is static, according to Mortenson, and he said that "it'll be four to five years before we get around to all housing."

Ways to avoid end of the year damage fees.

1. Don't damage living space

2. Take time to thoroughly check your living space and note on your check-in form all areas of wear and tear. (be sure to carefully sniff walls for the minty smell of toothpaste -- could be holes covered up by last resident!)

3. Fill out green cards and don't be afraid to be assertive. But don't forget to be patient, too; those guys are busy!

4. Check out the online green card maintenance request system for more expedient and documented service.

5. Only use plasti tak or 3M hooks. To avoid grease spots on your posters or photos, use 3M poster strips.