Thanks to a proposal from Student Government (SGA), the office of business and finance will be investing in brand new washers and dryers for all of the residence halls on campus.
The laundry machines currently available for student use are old, outdated, and some of them don’t work properly. This causes frustration among students, as they sometimes have to rewash clothing or dry items for excessive amounts of time.
“SGA brought [the issue with the washers and dryers] to our attention, and [we] began investigating and doing research immediately,” Tracy Severson, executive administrative assistant of business and finance, said.
If a residence hall currently has stacked washers and dryers, they will be replaced with new stacked machines. The same will apply for stand-alone machines as well.
The new washers and dryers will have easy-to-read digital display, cycle programming flexibility, individual cycle modifier keys, and the ability to operate with an app that students will be able download on their iOS or Android devices.
The app is called LaundryView Mobile, and it will allow students to keep better track of their laundry. This will enable users to set text alerts that will notify them when their cycles are done, report service problems, and even request to receive a notification when a machine is available.
“Hopefully this will manage the machines and distribute them, time wise, more evenly,” Severson said .
RAs will be required to undergo specialized training in order to learn how to operate the app. They will then be able to help students download the app and figure out how to use it. This training will occur after installation and programming are complete.
“Hopefully the incorporation of technology will keep everything up-to-date,” Severson said.
The installation process of the machines will include going into the walls in the laundry rooms in order to program the wireless capabilities necessary for the app to connect to the machines and run properly.
The plan is to have all of the washers and dryers installed over winter break so that they are ready to use when students return to campus in January.
