Residence Life,

McAuley Hall has long been known as the wildest and most troublesome residence hall on the Mercyhurst campus. In years past there have been outrageous stories of property destruction, theft, vandalism, and partying. While these stories still echo among Mercyhurst students, this year has been the exception. McAuley Hall has become a quiet and stable housing unit for the freshman boys of the Class of 2014.

In spite of our excellent track record, there have been two flooding incidents on the third floor of McAuley Hall during the month of February. In years past this may have seen commonplace, but it came as a major surprise for the current freshmen boys.
The third floor is often rivaled for its characteristics of camaraderie, cleanliness, and genuine care for one another’s well-being. Consequently, the flooding sparked great discontent when our brotherhood was, in essence, attacked by an unknown person.

Despite the wrecker’s best efforts, all hands went on deck early the Sunday morning of Feb. 13 around 4 a.m. We gathered mops, towels and anything else that could soak up the water in our flooded hallway and went to work. Most of the water subsided, but many of our rooms, including those below us and Police and Safety’s offices, were left inundated.

When McAuley’s RAs called maintenance, we were assured that a person would be right over to assist us. However, help never arrived and we were left to our own devices for an inexcusable 36 hours.

With the average cost of college on the rise, including Mercyhurst, one would believe that our regular bills would cover an event such as this. The damage to our personal property, the drenched hallway and the closure of our bathroom seemed harsh enough, but to add insult to injury the entire third floor, south wing was charged with a damage fee of $30.

As a result, the majority of residents on the third floor, south wing have decided not to pay the $30 fee as we believe we were mistreated in this poorly handled incident.

Although you may view our actions as a rash rebellion from naïve freshmen consider that many of us, including myself, struggle financially and see $30 go a long way. Additionally, we do not agree that we should be punished for a crime we did not commit as we clearly receive no benefit from flooding our own hallway.
We must insist that you reconsider your decision to charge us and understand our grievances at hand.

Respectfully,
Eric Pelosi and McAuley Hall Third Floor, South Wing