The perspectives and opinions printed in this Letter to the Editor are the views of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the positions of Portland State Vanguard or its editorial staff.
Dear Editor,
In response to your recent published article, “Summer Heat Makes PSU Housing Uninhabitable”, I feel the writer did not discuss what current, temporary solutions there are to cooling.
I live in Montgomery, a building erected at the turn of the century more than 100 years ago. That century brough heat, but not heat to the level of today’s changing global climate.
I have a “swamp cooler” (or an evaporative cooler, commonly used in dryer climates, and perfect for deserts) and a box fan, as well as three windows. I open the central window by the rickety elevator every night, and close it during the day — I know other dormmates do too.
We find refuge in cold showers, in the PSU Campus rec pool, in cold baths in the clawfoot tubs, rotating cool ice packs from our minifridge freezers to our bodies as we sweat through our sheets and chairs.
The selective placement by PSU Housing of high-capacity commercial window-venting evaporative coolers on the cool side of the building (venting in from the alley between Blackstone and Montgomery) only serves to cool the hottest South-facing side (rooms numbering 34-41). I stayed on the South-facing side in September 2022, where temperatures reached the upper 80’s/low 90’s for just a few days.
I see no reason why they can’t place a window-venting evaporative cooler in the elevator lobbies on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors where central cooling would keep rooms numbering from 00-13 cool. They could then place commercial fans in the hallway to cover rooms 14-33.
Right now, I believe only 24 out of the 170 inhabitable rooms could be said to be “adequately cool” for habitable purposes (that is, with our private doors open to vent in the cool air from the public hallways).
With regard to private/personal solutions, currently, the housing handbook states that there should be nothing in the windows (both for aesthetic and safety purposes) and personal window-venting cooling units are prohibited (Handbook, p. 34-35).
I do not see the logic of this, as heat-reflective blankets, tinfoil, and heat-and-light-blocking blackout curtains would greatly reduce the effects of heat. I’m getting 4-5 hours of sleep with my inner command-hook-affixed curtains, my $50 Arctic Air, and a $25 box fan. I know I’m one of the lucky ones.
Montgomery recently installed central cooling in the lounge; you can hear the gentle whirr of the LG AC units, and the squishy seats are enticing. It’s a cooling center by day, and a refuge for those rooms where it feels like a sauna by 1pm.
I implore PSU Housing to consider setting up nightly cooling centers—accessible to all PSU students — in SMSU in Parkway North, in the lounges of Blumel, Broadway, and Montgomery. These cooling centers could provide simple things like ice packs, free water bottles, cooling blankets, and snacks. They are air-conditioned, welcome, and safe places to take a nap.
PSU needs to take this heat wave to an emergency level as the rest of the city has, where heat has gravely affected those without homes. Heat also affects the wellbeing of our students who are paying—literally and figuratively—to live in the dorms at Portland State.
Sincerely,
A Resident of Montgomery Hall
