The Stevenson University Office of Residence Life launched several new updates to improve resident student life on campus.

To make living convenient and comfortable for residents, the residence life office had all laundry machines on campus replaced, put the “room condition report” online and now offer single rooms to all first-year and second-year students.

The new washers and dryers in the residence halls no longer require residents to swipe their student ID’s for usage. The new washers also offer three new settings in addition to the previous settings from the old washers. Residents can indicate the soil level and choose a cycle and temperature for a better wash. The dryers are also easier to use, with clear labeling and settings.

Signs in the laundry room give detailed directions on how to use the machines and new laundry room apps.

The previous laundry website, eSuds, has been replaced by WashAlert Monitoring, which is on the app, Speed Queen, developed by the Alliance Laundry Systems LLC. This app gives information and updates regarding laundry services. The new machines also automatically notify the residence life staff when error messages are present.

Another app, Caldwell & Gregory, is available to report laundry machine problems by scanning the Quick Response (QR) code on the machines.

Additionally, the updated “room condition report” is more accessible to residents. Residents are now able to upload photos of damages along with their statements.

Evan Huckfeldt, assistant director of housing operations, said that students are more likely to submit the form when it’s online. He said the residence life staff collected over 800 submissions this fall semester compared to 37 submissions last spring.

Another update gives residents the option to live in a single room on the first floor in any of the first-year and upperclass suites, except Wooded Way, for an additional charge. The same fee applies for all upperclass suites but varies among the first-year suites, depending on the choice of an A room or B room.

Huckfeldt said that single rooms may help students’ anxiety and improve their comfort living on campus.

Additionally, the residence life staff is enforcing roommate agreements among residents in the apartments starting this semester.

“We want to be more proactive and try to cut out any of the issues ahead of time by having them to facilitate in conversations,” said Huckfeldt.

Matt Patti, third-year resident assistant, explained, “I think roommate agreements can definitely benefit the RAs as well, because we don’t have to do as many roommate mediations or handle as many problems people have in their rooms.”

The Office of Residence Life is also considering introducing all-gender housing in the future, where males, females and those with other gender identities have the option to live in the same suite or apartment. Although the plan is still in its early stages, the possibility has been in discussion since last spring.

According to Huckfeldt, the residence life staff needs to do research, write policies, get approval from administration, recode computer systems and educate residents on what is the point of all-gender housing to establish this plan.

Future residence life updates will be announced on the residence life portal page and Facebook page.