Whereas, Cornell’s on-campus housing system serves thousands of residents, and routine wear, vendor delays, and parts availability mean that maintenance issues will occur and some will take time to resolve,
Whereas, Housing & Residential Life (HRL) provides multiple channels for housing support, each with distinct avenues for support and operations including the following: Housing & Residential Life Central Office, Service Centers, and Residential Staff,
Whereas, HRL maintains a process for residents and staff to submit communications (i.e. maintenance requests) that are handled through a queue, and this leads to ambiguity regarding the status of the request,
Whereas, HRL publicly lists a Residence Hall Director (RHD) for each residence hall or residential community, which reflects an existing building-level professional staff role that can serve as a stable point of contact for residents on building-wide concerns,
Whereas, for urgent facilities situations, HRL provides specific escalation contacts, including Customer Service and the Student & Campus Life Facilities Management Office, which shows that clear routing and clear communication already exist for emergencies,
Whereas, residents frequently report frustration regarding ongoing maintenance issues and a lack of communication regarding what is broken, what is underway, and what the realistic timeframe is, especially when the issue impacts the full building (i.e. building vending machines, elevators, shared printing, and communal showers),
Whereas, predictable, written updates with a basic timeline and next steps reduce confusion, reduce duplicate submissions, reduce rumors, and reduce the burden on front-line staff who field repeated questions from residents,
Whereas, realistic repair timelines and accompanying status updates support planning, especially for students with accessibility concerns,
Be it therefore resolved, that HRL standardize where residents can reliably find the most recent updates by using at least two methods:
-A consistent posting location that residents already use
-A biweekly “Building Maintenance Status Update” email to residents in that building or community
Be it further resolved, that each update cover building-wide or shared-impact items that meet one or more of the following criteria:
-An outage or reduced function of a shared service (i.e. elevator, laundry room, vending, common-area plumbing, shared bathrooms, shared printers, building access systems, or other shared infrastructure)
-A condition that affects several residents at once
-A situation where the expected resolution timeline exceeds 72 hours
Be it further resolved, that each listed item in each update include, at minimum:
-A plain-language description of the issue and the location
-The date HRL or Facilities first received the report (or the date HRL opened the case)
-The current status in one short label (example labels: “reported,” “diagnosis,” “awaiting parts,” “vendor scheduled,” “work in progress,” “awaiting inspection,” “resolved.”);
-A timeline statement that is honest and useful, with either a repair date, repair window, or the next scheduled milestone (example: “vendor visit scheduled for [date]” or “parts arrival expected within [range]”);
-How residents should proceed in the meantime if a workaround exists, and what residents should avoid if it slows resolution;
-The correct point of contact for questions tied to that issue, with the appropriate office listed (i.e. RHD, Service Center, Customer Service, or another HRL contact);
Be it further resolved, that the update explicitly states when an issue is outside HRL’s direct capabilities, while still giving residents the best available next milestone or ETA window,
Be it further resolved, that when a high-impact issue occurs between update cycles (i.e. elevator outage, widespread shower outage, major water issue), HRL provide an interim notice within 24 hours via email and webpage that states “what happened,” “what was done so far,” and “what the next milestone is,” even if the final timeline is unknown at that moment,
Be it further resolved, that Housing & Residential Life establish and maintain a standardized, building-specific webpage within the official HRL online portal for each residential community, which contains information on active, building-wide maintenance issues,
Be it further resolved, that access to the webpage be provided through a clearly posted QR code placed in consistent, high-traffic common areas throughout each residential community (i.e. near elevators, stairwells, and service desks) to increase accessibility,
Be it further resolved, the information presented on this webpage reflect the same issue descriptions, status labels, timeline information, and clearly identified point of contact (i.e. Residence Hall Director (RHD) for that hall or community, or by an HRL-designated staff member for that building) as the corresponding biweekly email update,
Be it further resolved, that HRL include, at the bottom of each email, a hyper-link containing a short explanation of the correct procedure for housing questions, service center needs, and maintenance requests, consistent with HRL’s published contact structure,
Be it finally resolved, that the Student Governance Assembly recommends HRL review this communication practice after one semester by checking resident feedback and the volume of repeat inquiries, and that HRL share a summary with the Student Governance Assembly
