When Emmett Anderson ‘24 walked downstairs into the basement of his residential hall after spring break, his jaw dropped. He had spent the weeks before toiling with the laundry machines: a faulty washer meant that his clothes had been locked in the machine, soaking wet, for several hours. But no more — there, in the old ones’ place, was a shiny new washer and dryer.
Anderson described the ordeal to The Wheaton Wire.
“The last time I used the old washing machines, I put my load of laundry in the dryer and let it go. When I went to get the laundry, it said one minute remaining and it just kept saying that for a really long time,” Anderson shared. “When I went to get my laundry, the door was locked. So I unplugged the machine and pried open the door, my clothes, of course, were soaking wet.”
Anderson said that when he tried to wash them again, the same thing happened, but it took fifteen minutes longer to get the door open. This time, he looked to the laundry machine manufacturer for help.
“I called the [laundry machine] company and was like ‘please fix this, please fix this, please, please fix this. My clothes are locked in the machine.’” They were unresponsive.
Anderson was eventually able to get the machine door to open by plugging and unplugging the laundry machines. Still, he was put off doing laundry while at school.
Updates to the Laundry Machines on Campus
Over spring break, Residential Life Services replaced all the washers and dryers on campus with the exception of 1 Howard Street and The Guest House, so students will not have to deal with what Anderson dealt with.
Tim Jordan, head of Residential Life, said in an email to The Wire that “laundry equipment is replaced each time we renew our agreement with our laundry vendor in an effort to have the most efficient and effective equipment for students. The typical life of the contract and the equipment is eight years old.”
The last time laundry machines were replaced was in 2015, except for Pine Hall which had new equipment as it opened in 2019.
Student Reactions
Anderson is happy about the laundry machine replacements but was surprised by their appearance.
“I was shocked they looked exactly the same,” said Anderson. “But I was really happy and pleasantly surprised they decided to replace them.”
Macey Poitras-Cote ’25 feels the same way. She is the co-president of Outdoors House and is glad that theme houses were included in the laundry house replacement.
“I’m happy that we have them. It’s nice to get recognition as theme houses, we’ve got a lot of new things this year, which has been great,” Poitras-Cote said. “I do wish they came a little bit sooner, because last year we had a lot of plumbing issues. I am really happy they’re here now, though.”