To the editor,

As a resident of Stimson College, my year has been ruined by the ongoing construction in what was once known as the Roosevelt Cafe. Next year, it will be the site of a new dorm, but at the moment, it is a source of pain and anguish for me and everyone else in the building.

Our list of complaints is never ending: power blackouts without warning, fire alarms blaring at 5:00 a.m., repeated hot water shut-offs (again sometimes without warning), and the jack-hammering and bulldozing at six in the morning, two hours earlier than they’re supposed to start. Worst of all, there was a gas leak last semester; some of us received text messages warning us, but also many who didn’t. Even still, those who got a message weren’t given any hint of what to do. Basically, it all seems like a doomed project completely mismanaged from the start. The construction is driving everyone crazy and putting us in danger.

The management of this project is at best a pain, and at worse a reason why everyone is moving out of the building next year. Why can’t Stony Brook wait until the summer, or at least manage their ‘project’ better?

As a transfer from SUNY Cortland, my building freshman year was right next to a construction site. My only complaint was the noise, and at the end of the semester the school gave each of us a refund check for the trouble. They acknowledged the hassle and did what they could to make up for it.

Stony Brook, however, has simply told us to put up with it, without even trying to listen. They’ve done a horrible job of trying to accommodate us and have shown again they’re all about the money with this new ‘expansion.’ So it seems for the rest of us in the worst part of campus, Stony Brook will continue to leave us in the dark.

A senior at Stony Brook who wishes to remain anonymous. He lives in Stimson.