It’s Sunday night, and you’re scared for your life. You’ve managed to procrastinate your homework and have a three page paper due Monday. Worst yet, you look in your underwear drawer and all that’s in sight is cobwebs. Frantically, you check the rest of the drawers hoping underwear had been misplaced. No such luck. It’s time, and it must be done. Working up a sweat in the sauna that is the Siena Heights dorms, you gather up all your dirty clothes, and race to the laundry room. Checking the washers, you manage to find an empty machine, and load it to the brim. You head over to the change machine to get 75 cents, but it is out of order. Where’s the next place you check? How about the welcome desk? They should be able to help. Ditto, they tell you to check the SHU store. It ends here. It has to. You reach into your pocket and pull out a wrinkled up dollar, looking at the cashier with youthful innocence. They have to give you change—look at those eyes! But they don’t. With your head hung, you saunter back to the room, gather up your clothes, and sulk in your room. The next day nobody sits with you at lunch because your clothes give off an aroma that would make flies cringe.

Obtaining quarters at Siena shouldn’t be this difficult. We pay upwards of $30,000 annually; the least we could get in return is accessibility to quarters. Phil Brier, a freshman football player, said the first time he tried doing laundry, the change machine was broken. He spent his afternoon hunting down fellow students for quarters. He feels there should be multiple change machines in case one breaks, and the Welcome Center should keep quarters on hand.

Hillary Weiss, a senior here at Siena, often goes to the laundry mat on campus to do her laundry. “I went there in June and [the quarter machine] was not working. I stopped noticing after July,” says Weiss, “It would be nice if it did; it would save on time for students.”

I took the liberty to interview Justin Landis to see what could be done about this issue. I asked where he would go to get quarters on campus. He replied, “Ideally, the quarter machine. I’m aware it is out of order, and it should be fixed shortly.” (Keep in mind; it’s been out of order since June, so his definition of shortly may be different than ours). They are also working on a new system that will make it easier for students to get their invaluable quarters. It will be card based, much like flex dollars. The details are yet to get kinked out, but it will make the quarter situation a little less stressful. They plan on having this system up and running by next August. I mentioned getting another quarter machine, but Landis said “There’s no sense on adding another quarter machine, and then having to raise room prices to compensate.” He ended by saying, “If you have a problem or suggestion, please come see residence life. It’s what we are here for and we are happy to help.”