By Liam Scott and Aislinn Keely
Over the summer, Facilities Management outfitted the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses with new laundry units. Previously, the university bought and owned its units. Fordham now has a contract and leasing agreement with Fowler Commercial Laundry Solutions, the new provider. Residence halls across campus are now equipped with new LG models. Since they were set up before the semester, work orders for the laundry machines have decreased, according to Kimberly Russell, assistant dean of students and director of residential life.
Residential Life proposed the idea for new laundry machines two years ago, according to Russell. The go-ahead on the project came at the end of the last academic year. In the span of one summer, the Facilities Management department removed and replaced every old laundry unit at Rose Hill and Lincoln Center and decided on a new laundry service and business model. The university had previously owned campus laundry machinery, but it switched to the leasing model over the summer.
In the past, Facilities Management would refresh the laundry equipment every seven or eight years. However, with the size of the university today and the amount of machines needed for every residence hall, it makes more sense to lease according to Associate Vice President of Facilities Management John Puglisi.
All residential laundry units on the Rose Hill campus were replaced, totaling 120 washers and 151 dryers. At the Lincoln Center campus, 21 washers and 24 dryers were replaced. Facilities determined that the units in McKeon Hall on the Lincoln Center campus did not need to be replaced.
The cost of leasing with Fowler is comparable to the cost previously spent on repairing and maintaining the owned units according to Puglisi. “At Rose Hill, it is about an $85,000 initiative for an annual lease cost, which is precisely in line with what we used to spend on our maintenance contract,” he said.
Fowler was chosen as the new provider for a variety of reasons according to administrators.
“We took a look at two different vendors, and Fowler was very aggressive, they really wanted our business,” said Puglisi.
Assistant Director of Housing Operations Julie Liss said that Fowler has a “better track record for personal attention,” in regards to one of the aspects of the lease agreement. The company has agreed to check all the systems on campus one to two times per week regardless of the existence of a work order. This higher volume of system checks is meant to prevent issues according to Puglisi.
In recent years, Residential Life has conducted student surveys regarding amenities in Residence Halls. Consistently, laundry amenities scored lowest in terms of satisfaction. “We really encouraged Facilities that this is a priority,” said Liss. To this end, Russell, Assistant said that her office is “happy to serve as a sounding board for students.” Residential Life also plans to do a follow up assessment in the future to gauge the success of the new units.
Tyler Martins, FCRH ’15, resident director of Walsh Hall, noted the improvement. Laundry was previously “a bit of a struggle,” according to Martins. He said that many units failed to work, and up to two work orders per week were being placed.
“There were times when things got better really quickly, but there were other times depending on the time of year when it got a little hectic, and we had to be on top of those work orders,” said Martins.
He noted the positive change after the switch to Fowler. “My own personal experience has been a lot better,” he said.
He also remarked on the positive feedback from residents. “People have been pretty vocal and happy that this has been a change that has been made across the board,” he said.
Some students said they have taken a liking to the new systems as well. “I really like the new machines, they have a really good capacity,” said Alicia Chiang, FCRH ’21.
The dryers are also a point of appreciation for students. “The new dryers actually dry your clothes,” said Mark Witcamp, GSB ’18. “It is nice to know that the dryers actually dry your clothes,” said Lauren Winn, FCRH ’18.
Others are not so satisfied and are instead slightly disappointed that the wash time now has been lengthened to 36 minutes. That time “seems a little lengthy,” said Alana Lesiewski, GSB ’18.
The new models can fit larger loads according to Facilities Management. Additionally, the new machines require less detergent than the old models. In fact, using too much detergent can actually lessen the machine’s life expectancy, so students are encouraged to use less soap in each load.
