For both residents and housing officials, Jones Tower living conditions may seem to be getting better – but that could depend on who you ask.In the past year, Jones Tower, a graduate residence hall on north campus, has had problems with roaches and rats, the water being shut off and faulty air conditioning, heating and elevator systems.The Jones Tower Living Committee, a resident`s group, has contacted a non-profit organization, Community Mediation, to initiate mediations with Ohio State housing officials. A survey was conducted in July by the committee to prepare for the mediation. Bill Hall, assistant vice president for Student Affairs, said the situation could have been resolved in other ways.”We`re willing to sit down and talk with anyone about Jones Tower. Right now, I`m not sure what we`d mediate. Our efforts to talk with students have been ignored,” Hall said.Committee members hope mediation will force OSU to take its demands more seriously, said Brian Rivera, president of the resident group.”We want members of the university community to listen to our concerns and deal with them. They basically preached to us at the first two meetings and didn`t listen to our concerns,” Rivera said.OSU has not responded to the committee`s request for a meeting between the three parties, he said. But Rivera thinks the situation is improving.”We`ve made some progress with some of our complaints, but the `big three` issues are still a problem,” he said.According to committee members, the “big three” issues are:

  • The elevator system gets stuck between floors, occasionally taking students on “joyrides” to the top and bottom of the building before stopping and completely breaking down.
  • The centralized heating and air conditioning system has broken down in the past and does not provide individual thermostats in rooms.
  • Spraying efforts for rats and roaches are not adequate and not performed regularly.
During winter and spring quarters, housing officials sat down with Jones Tower residents at two scheduled meetings to discuss the living conditions and to set up a plan to overhaul the leaky plumbing system in the tower. In the spring, OSU replaced the main water lines on the 13th and 14th floors.”It`s very difficult to keep a building upgraded when it`s in constant service,” said Steve Kremer, director of Residence Life. “Jones Tower never shuts down. We`re open 24 hours a day, everyday of the year.”The project cost $160,000, but many residents were angered because the water was shut off for six hours every day during construction. Residents were also upset when they learned there would be a rent increase of 3.75 percent for fall quarter.Residents threatened to place rent in escrow and go to court if their living conditions weren`t improved during spring quarter, but no legal action was ever taken. “They insulted us by giving a rate increase,” said Belinda Spinosi, chair of the committee. “Besides the rent increase and all the other problems we`re having, the water problem is still not fixed.”Nothing positive came out of the two meetings we`ve already had. The university is using stalling tactics to avoid our concerns. Most of these issues are a result of the university not doing their job.” Wen-Ling Wang, a doctoral student in special education, moved to Jones Tower in 1995.”I have requested maintenance for a water leak in the ceiling for three years,” Wang said. “Whenever there are thunderstorms in the summer, I have to ask maintenance to change [the tile.] The tile has been changed at least three times.”OSU officials concede problems, but say they are doing their best.”No doubt about it, Jones had a mechanically bad year,” Kremer said. “But we have to prioritize our funds all across campus. When your talking about university housing, the bottom line job is to serve students.”I don`t know why our communication with (Jones) students ever got bad. I don`t want to blame anyone. Hopefully it`s getting better.”

Yung-I Liu contributed to this story.