UNIVERSITY'S GREEK HOUSING FALLING APART, SAY STUDENTS

Talk to Southeast Missouri State University students living in Greek housing and they'll tell you it's no home sweet home.

They say the six residence halls of the housing complex on the north side of the campus are falling apart from deterioration and neglect.

Students in the fraternity and sorority houses have complained of everything from inadequate lighting and rusting faucets to deteriorating ceilings and defective smoke detectors.

They also have complained about the fact that the aging buildings are not air conditioned and not wired for cable television.

University officials say steps are being taken to upgrade Greek housing as well as the other residence halls, but they point out that the institution can't afford to address some of the more expensive items, like installing air conditioning.

Students in Greek housing say they've heard the promises, now they want results. "I'd like to see action, not just words," said Tim Weston, president of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.

Al Stoverink, Southeast's physical plant director, said: "We hope to be able to do some things there, but we are not looking at anything real major, like a complete renovation."

He said part of the problem is simply the age of the campus residence halls. The newest ones -- the Towers and Greek housing complexes -- were built in the 1960s.

"We are trying to tackle some of the minor items like emergency lighting, ceilings and things like that, that perhaps we can do internally," he said.

"But to get the major renovations done, it is going to take several years and the funding sources to do that," he noted.

University physical plant crews also will have their hands full over the next year making needed improvements on campus to meet federal handicapped accessibility requirements, Stoverink said.

Weston said the deteriorating conditions in Greek housing have a negative impact on the entire fraternity and sorority system at Southeast.

"It is more than just a housing issue," he said. "It is more the survival of the Greek system."

The condition of the buildings makes it more difficult to attract new members, he said.

Students in Greek housing say many of the buildings lack emergency lighting.

"Last semester there was a blackout, and we couldn't see anything," said Michelle Tanurchis, a member of Alpha Xi Delta sorority.

"The buildings are 30 years old and a lot of stuff in them is outdated," said Nathan Thomas, president of Phi Delta Theta fraternity whose members are housed in K dorm.

Thomas said the rooms lack overhead lighting and there are few electrical outlets in the rooms. Students have made do by resorting to extension cords and power strips.

Students complain that many of the smoke detectors don't work.

The doors, they say, are far from secure in many cases. "If you pull hard enough on the doors, they pop open," said Thomas.

Students also say that some sinks and cabinets are falling apart, and rooms and hallways need to be repainted. It often takes considerable time just to get light bulbs replaced in the university-owned housing, students insist.

"I don't think it would take a lot to put white paint on the walls," said Weston.

Students throughout Greek housing have complained about the unsightly, discolored ceilings, where the material coating the ceilings is peeling.

There have also been reports of inoperative fire alarms.

But the university's Stoverink said the fire alarms and smoke detectors have been inspected and "they do work."

He said the smoke alarms in all of the campus residence halls were inspected over spring break.

"From time to time, you may have a malfunction or a smoke alarm battery may go dead," said Stoverink. "We do an annual inspection."

Stoverink said the university is installing emergency lighting in the residence halls. "We are putting emergency lighting in all the stairwells right now."

The university, he said, is reusing the emergency lighting that was removed from Towers West as part of the renovation of that structure. "It's good equipment," said Stoverink.

As to the deteriorating ceilings, Stoverink said the white, sprayed-on ceiling material -- installed several years ago -- has grayed and blackened in many cases and is flaking off.

The university is looking at addressing the problem. But it costs money.

Stoverink said scraping off and replacing the old ceiling material would cost an estimated $50,000 to $60,000.

"That is the problem we run into," said Stoverink. "Every time we talk about doing some type of renovation, to try to do all the buildings at one time, it gets expensive."