Though the Department of Facilities Management claims it has received fewer complaints about heating this year, some students — like Colby Jenkins '12 — are still living in rooms so hot they say they are forced to sleep with their windows open in mid-February.
"The temperature in my room fluctuates," Jenkins said. And this year's problems are nothing new.
"I lived in Perkins freshman year, and it was a sauna. I remember one of my friend's Facebook statuses when they turned on the heat was, ‘ResLife, I know we asked for some heat, but we didn't ask for Africa,'" Jenkins said. "Then there was a time last year in Pembroke when some of my friends went home because it was unbearably cold in the room before they turned the heat on. I had six blankets on, shivering."
But Facilities said there were no serious heating issues on campus.
"We've got most of the heating issues figured out," said Carlos Fernandez, assistant vice president of facilities operations and engineering. "Now, everything is just a regular part of doing business."
Facilities officials said when students like Jenkins open their windows, they may be making their buildings even hotter.
"What they don't realize is that this throws the thermostat out of whack because it tries to overcompensate for the cold air and then blows even more hot air into the entire building," said Kai Morrell '11, a sustainability outreach coordinator at EcoReps, an environmental student group funded by Facilities.
"A lot of students hear stories from their friends, ‘Oh, I called Facilities, but they didn't do anything,' stuff like that — but that's not true." Morrell said Facilities will always fix heating issues in rooms where the temperature is not between 68 and 72 degrees.
"Above all, I would encourage people to try to keep their windows closed and try to live with the temperature as best as possible," Morrell said.
Jenkins said he decided to just open his window rather than making a call because Facilities had not helped him in the past. He said last year, Facilities told him to endure the cold for a week, even though the room temperature was below 68 degrees.
He is not the only one who said calling Facilities doesn't always mean ending the problem.
"The heater just stopped working, and we can feel the breeze coming through the windows," said Ileana Laguna '14. "We called Facilities about it last semester and they came and fixed it, but the problem's come back. They told us that since a wall of our room is facing outside, it's just going to be a problem. I don't know if we're going to call them again."
Eric Marceau '12 has had mixed experiences with Facilities. "When I was a freshman, my room was ice cold. I called Facilities, and they were just like, ‘Eh, the building's old. Nothing we can do about it,'" he said. "Then again, when I was a sophomore, my heater didn't work, and they came and fixed it right away."
Fernandez said some perceived temperature problems arise from the diverse preferences of the student body.
"We have students from all over the place, and what will be comfortable for some will be unbearable for others," he said.
But he acknowledged that investments must be made to improve temperature control in the 56 residence halls on campus.
"It's an ongoing issue at Brown to upgrade buildings," he said, pointing to the renovation of 315 Thayer St. from a space rented by the University into an environmentally friendly dormitory with temperature control in every suite.
Facilities is also working on adding student environmental consultants in Wriston and Keeney quadrangles to identify areas of wasteful energy use by students.
Fernandez said Facilities eventually wants to use this information to cut energy waste across campus.
"We would like to create campus-wide competitions between dormitories," in which students would compete to save energy, Fernandez said. "This requires student education."
