Students petition to give campus residence halls better air conditioning, citing climate change

OSWEGO, N.Y. — SUNY Oswego students are petitioning for the improvement of the air conditioning in the campus residence halls.  The petition has reached the Office of Residence Life and the assistant vice president said he was looking into fulfilling the petition’s request.

Sophomore Melanie Mendez, the creator of the petition, said that she wants the residence halls to have improved air conditioning, which was a common complaint among students from the last fall semester.

“I did hear many complaints last year my freshman year,” Mendez said.  “When I first moved in that first week, the heat was extremely unbearable.”  The petition is a way for students to really speak their minds and act as a doorway to change.

Shaun Crisler, the assistant vice president of Residence Life, said he is aware of the petition Mendez made and is going to pass it on to his colleagues and will see if this issue gets resolved or not. 

“I think part of it is, that given the warm temperatures we’ve had, I definitely can understand why students would be talking about AC,” Crisler said.  He said the petition is about realizing that the campus will have to resort to other forms of communication so students don’t just have to rely on signatures to reach their goals.

During the fall, the summer crawled back with some spikes in high temperatures. A lack of airflow in the residence halls led to students opening their doors to let air flow through.  It’s why Mendez started the petition.

“It can be a possibility because from what I’ve heard from professors here, the weather has never been very hot up here,” Mendez said.  She said that this past summer has reached temperatures that aren’t normal levels of warmth and says that the recent spikes in heat could be due to climate change.

Crisler also said the recent changes in weather and the lack of proper airflow to the residence halls could hint at climate change.

“I personally do because what I’ve noticed is that in the eight years I’ve been here, is that it goes from summer and then in one day it’s fall,” Crisler said. 

Crisler also said the petition’s goal is a pretty elaborate plan. Crisler said he cannot guarantee that student residence halls will have better air conditioning by next semester or next year.