By Kaitlin Sides | LTVN Reporter/Anchor
With Memorial and Alexander Halls undergoing construction this year and Allen and Dawson Halls being slated for next, a renovation of Kokernot is still in the distance. After living in Kokernot my freshman year, I can safely say the residence hall needs major updates.
Kokernot is often forgotten by students. Many a time, I’ve had people tell me they’ve never met someone who lived there. Kokernot houses only 200 female residents, which is small compared to the recently renovated Collins.
But “Crusty Collins” was nothing compared to Kokernot, which has smaller rooms, bugs trapped in windows and a lingering smell of what used to be a men’s residence hall. Many people think the fact that it once housed men isn’t bad, but just think about if Martin were turned into a women’s residence hall.
As we know, Collins got a $41.7 million makeover. And now, Kokernot is truly the new “Crusty Collins.”
Collins, for the most part, has always had sinks in bedrooms. But in Kokernot, you were elbow-to-elbow brushing your teeth in the morning, and that’s if you were lucky enough to grab one of the 10 sinks in each hall.
The line of sinks was inhabited by many bugs, including lice, on one occasion because a resident decided it was best to remove her lice in the communal bathroom. When you looked out the window, you may have found a gecko or a bug trapped in between the glass too — and that doesn’t include the various bugs you found in the showers.
My freshman year, we had a water issue where the shower pressure stopped working halfway through the year, blaring an incredibly loud noise and only offering cold water. This was fixed for a short period of time until it resumed again, so my friends and I would have to walk across the residence hall in our robes and towels to shower on the other side.
The narrow hallways of Kokernot housed many rooms that were small, but that was no shocker due to typical dorm room sizes. Many people complained about how small their rooms were in Collins, but they still had room to bring in extra storage and a full-size projector screen.
Don’t get me wrong; the community I had in Kokernot was amazing, and I met many of my best friends there. But the living conditions were comical, and Kokernot is definitely in need of its upcoming renovation.
