Before transferring here this fall, I was feverishly waiting for confirmation that I’d stay in Promontory. With the promise of my own room, private bathroom, and a washer and dryer in-unit was enough to persuade me to front the money for the hefty price tag. However, in the persuasive description of the most lavish housing our campus has to offer, they left out a crucial detail: that I’d be either woken up at absurd hours of the night into the early morning, or kept awake because of the basketball court.
Upon moving in, I noticed my proximity to the basketball court and didn’t think anything of it initially, because I was naive enough to assume that the residents would have an established sense of decency and consideration for their fellow classmates. I was painfully mistaken. Almost every night since I’ve moved in, I’ve been harshly shaken from much needed sleep to listen to people playing basketball, screaming and yelling, blasting music or whizzing around on beeping Lime scooters as early as 4:30 a.m.
I tried a plethora of things rumored to combat the noise: ear plugs, listening to relaxing music, taking [natural] sleep aids – even to the extent of buying heavy curtains for my windows and a room air conditioner, so I didn’t wake up sweating from having to close my windows. So far, nothing has worked. I emailed the community advisor, and despite a rich history of calling the RA’s to eradicate the issue, nothing has stopped the excessive noise in the middle of the night. All the advisor had to say to me was that my “best option” was to keep calling the RA’s.
Which, clearly isn’t working if I’m still being woken up almost every single night because of students disregarding the people their actions are directly affecting. If calling the RA’s was enough, there wouldn’t be a need to contact the advisor, or go through extreme measures and spend more money to sleep through the night. Ever since the issues arose, I’ve slept through only a handful of nights since I’ve been here. As a result, I’m dreadfully tired every single day, which is directly affecting my performance as a student. I’ve had crippling effects to my memory, as well as the ability to articulate in verbal communication. The worst side effect is my ability to concentrate in class.
Despite voicing this to the advisor a second time in effort to spark movements to combat this, the second option I was presented with was moving rooms. Which I feel strongly should be a last resort after the Promontory staff exhausted other options, considering I don’t have the time to pack up and move, especially with it drawing closer to the end of the semester. Instead of moving, I wrote, I would like to try and eliminate the root of the issue: not just for myself, but for other students feeling the effects of negligence. A roommate of mine met with the advisor, and was told little could be done. She’s now in the process of trying to move to different housing completely.
With having students pay so much money, even for a double room, one would think that the administration for Promontory would go out of their way to make it worth the money students are paying to live there. I guess the freedom of playing basketball into the early hours of the morning is more important than residents trying to get a decent night’s sleep.