Colgate University’s campus has a smelly problem.
It’s not because of the cow farm in Kirkland, the “pure eats” beans in Frank or even the numerous freshman boys who “forget” to put on deodorant.
The stench on campus has one distinct cause: the exorbitant price of laundry.
When Colgate students trudge up the hill to class, they should be greeted by familiar scents of fresh snow and vanilla. Lately, however, these sweet and comforting scents have been overpowered by something far more alarming.
Body odor.
According to my personal experiences, posts on Yik Yak and conversations I’ve heard in Frank, it is evident that Colgate students are getting smellier. While some may believe that it is because of personal hygiene (multiple men sharing that they don’t brush their teeth), I believe the issue stems from the University’s aggressively expensive laundry system.
Currently, it costs $1.70 to wash a load of laundry at Colgate, and another $1.70 to dry it. Honestly, this price would be fine if the laundry machines worked, but they don’t. Also, the washers are so small that students are often forced to split their clothes into multiple loads. A “normal” week of laundry can quickly turn into a $10 ordeal, assuming everything works correctly.
But the machines never work!
Even after washing, clothes come out smelling like sewage, sweat and the nasty Frank odor. Socks still have dirt on them, and detergent is rarely ever rinsed out. Also, many claim their clothes come out of the dryer just as wet as when they entered, only now warmer and somehow more smelly. Some have even begun timing dryer cycles, alleging that the machines shut off early, and it’s an extra $0.25 for every five minutes extra you need to dry your clothes.
Wealthier students have resorted to hiring laundry services. Students have reported seeing the “bizzy bodies laundry” truck on campus, or just buying a new wardrobe every week. What we are left with is an equity issue. People who can’t afford laundry services are smelly, ostracized from the rest of campus.
One student — who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of being identified as a part of the problem — lamented their struggles with Colgate’s laundry machines.
“I wash my clothes twice and they still smell,” they said. “At a certain point, you just accept it and hope no one sits next to you in class.”
This issue has only intensified since winter break, when Colgate lowered the price of laundry by ten cents per load. While administrators may have hoped this would be met with celebration, students quickly noticed the tradeoff: shorter dryer cycles, less effective washing and the stench of the laundry rooms getting worse by the second.
Is it even possible to have a working laundry system? Yes, in fact, Hamilton College and Ithaca College offer free laundry to their students. What are the results of this? Students smell better. While Colgate prides itself on academic excellence, strong alumni networks and an aggressively uphill campus, it continuously fails the smell test.
Colgate is constantly worried about our high transfer rate. Around 7% of first-year students don’t return for a second year. Could the cause be the stench associated with bad laundry machines? Study rooms have become impossible to be in for long, Love auditorium is filled with students subtly shifting away from one another and dorm rooms are smelling sour. Everyone is at risk. No one is safe.
So what can be done?
The solution is obvious. Make laundry free.
Colgate students already pay tuition, room, board and activity fees. Asking them to also pay almost $4 per load feels excessive. Free laundry would improve every single part of life on campus, including improved hygiene, morale, public health and campus dating culture.
Critics may argue that free laundry would encourage overuse. But students already overuse the machines because they don’t work the first time.
If Colgate wants to create a real community of excellence, it must start with the laundry rooms. Until then, students will continue to pay $1.70 at a time for clothes that are technically washed but, in actuality, dirtier than the basement of Delta Upsilon.
