By KRIS VENEZIA

A new initiative from Fordham University will allow students to see which washers and/or dryers are open and which ones are taken. The new system, titled LaundryAlert, also sends text message notifications to students telling them when their laundry is done.

Michael Meehan, executive director of the Residential Halls Association (RHA), worked with members from Residential Life and Facilities Operations to get this program launched. He said LaundryAlert is designed to make a tedious chore a little easier.

“We [RHA] wanted to alleviate student concerns with laundry,” Meehan said. “A lot of times people carry their laundry down the stairs and then realize that there are no machines available, and in a place like Martyrs, which has no elevators, it can be a painful process.”

According to Assistant Vice President for Facilities Operations, John Puglisi, the idea for a system that allows students to check the availability of machines came about five or six years ago. This was around the same time Fordham University decided to get new equipment in residential laundry rooms.

“We [Fordham University] made a big investment and bought new machines across campus,” Puglisi said. “[Then] we [Facilities Operations] were kicking around some ideas to just make laundry friendlier for the students.”

Meehan said RHA and Facilities Operations wanted to get this initiative up and running sooner, but there were some obstacles early on in the process.

“The initial problem was a contract and technological issue,” he said. “Then this year we [RHA] put a lot more pressure on it and Facilities [Operations] responded well.”

To use the program, students go to LaundryAlert.com and type in the passcode “Fordhamlaundry.”

After this, a page opens, showing all the campus residential buildings listed and how many washers and dryers are open in each facility. Students can then go into each residential building and monitor how much time is remaining on the machines.

Jeff Manning, residential director in Loschert Hall, does his laundry in the same machines as students. He said he hopes this system will prevent conflicts that can sometimes happen in a crowded laundry room.

“The biggest issue with laundry is that other people take [clothes] out of machines in use, and it can kind of clutter the laundry room,” Manning said. “I don’t know that students were fully aware if their laundry was done, and then students would take out other people’s laundry and leave out wet clothes.”

Manning explained that another problem occurs when students forget to remove some of their clothes from the laundry room.

“The laundry that’s left in the laundry room for a certain period of time can be removed [from campus],” he said. “We [Residential Life] try to donate those items to places like Goodwill.”

LaundryAlert officially launched at Fordham University this semester. Jason Bartlett, assistant director of Residential Life for Housing Operations, is working to let students know that this program exists.

“Right now, we’ve got some flyers up in the common areas and in laundry rooms,” Bartlett said. “A [representative from LaundryAlert] is getting dispatched to work with resident hall directors, and they will provide information on the system and prizes for students.”

Those prizes include T-shirts, laundry bags and koozies. Students can also pose for pictures in their laundry rooms for a chance to win other gifts.

Residential Life hopes these incentives will help entice students to use the new service.

Bartlett said that at the end of the day, this program is all about doing something positive for residents.

“It’s just continuing to provide services for students’ tuition dollars,” he said. “We want to make laundry less of a burden in a busy week.”