Emily Cohen

LTC Feehan

CPPL200

December 17, 2019

Creating a Change in Laundry at UMD

One issue that I see as extremely prevalent on the University of Maryland campus is our

access to laundry and their function. While at home, doing laundry is a simple task, it becomes a

whole entire ordeal in college. Besides the freshmen, most students do not have washers and

dryers in their own residence halls. They have to trek outside, no matter the weather, to another

hall to do their laundry. Then once they arrive, more often than not all of the machines are taken,

and there are always a few that are broken, yet they take your money and have you load all of

your clothing before being notified the machine does not work. This causes students to stand and

wait for washers and dryers to finish, see if others come to claim their clothes, and if the clothes

are not claimed immediately, which they often aren’t, then the students unload other people’s

belongings, placing their dripping wet garments on top of the machine so they can use it for

themselves. It often doesn’t make sense to go home while one’s clothes are in the washer,

because it only goes for about 30 minutes and it is approximately a five minute walk each way to

get back to another residence hall, so students often end up waiting, on benches or on the floor.

This weekly chore often takes up hours of students' lives and creates a huge

inconvenience. I have experienced this long, grueling process on an almost weekly basis, as well

as all of my friends who live on campus. The current situation is not the best way to ensure all

students can do their laundry while on campus. Although it might be the least expensive, the
costs of this system to its students are not worth it. If I were to address this issue, I would lead a

change by gathering together with other students to address the University and present an

alternative solution.

I would start this plan by banding together students concerned with the same issue. I

would reach out to friends and other students I know to sign a petition voicing our concern with

the current laundry situation. I would stand outside dining halls and academic buildings to get a

large number of signatures demonstrating the prominence of the issue. I would then get in

contact with the Department of Resident Life in order to show them my petition and present

them with a new plan of action. Instead of certain buildings designated to a floor full of washers

and dryers, every floor of each resident hall could get one or two washers and dryers of their

own. The ability to have laundry access on your own floor takes out so much of the time it takes

to do laundry, and the new machines will ensure a large fraction of them aren’t broken like the

existing ones are. While the University may argue that this method is too expensive, I would also

offer the idea of renting out mini washers and dryers to individual rooms, just as the University

currently does with mini fridges. Many students would rent out these two machines for a year in

order to have easier access to do laundry, and the University would make a good amount of

money from it. This idea will demonstrate the benefit both sides would receive if a new method

were implemented and would motivate the school to make a change.

The roadblocks I must overcome when facing this issue are showing the University the

importance of this issue and the necessity for a change. This roadblock will be a difficult one to

overcome due to the price of installing new laundry machines in the dorms, but bringing a

petition as evidence of every student who is not satisfied with the current situation will help the
Department of Resident Life to understand how large-scale of an issue it is that needs a change.

Additionally, by presenting a solution of my own, I am helping the department with the hard

part, coming up with an alternative, so all they would have to do is execute the idea. I even give

them a method of making money through this new system to ensure the University can earn back

some of what they spend on new machines and that the plan will seem somewhat realistic and

doable for them. By coming in prepared as well as working hard to get a band of supporters

behind me, I think the roadblocks stated can be overcome.

This issue is one I have considered for awhile, and writing it out has shown me the

importance of it and helped me to formulate a plan that can truly be taken into action. I think this

problem is a large one due to the large demographic of students it impacts and the extent to

which their day is taken over by the task of doing laundry. Considering how I will get support

and show the University that something must be done, as well what I think should be done, has

shown me that this problem does have a solution and I can try to lead a change to get there.

Especially by offering a cost-effective way for the University to benefit off of the changes as

well, I think this plan would succeed, and I might even consider attempting to lead this change.