First-year housing experiences water shut off and break in 

Maria Simpson / Copy editor 

Anjali Dalal-Whelan / News editor

Maher Hall — a campus building that hosts classrooms, various offices and dorm rooms for first-year students — has seen an onslaught of problems within recent weeks. The morning of Tuesday Sept. 26, USD Human Resources (HR) personnel discovered that their office in Maher had been broken into. USD Public Safety concluded that the break-in occurred sometime between closing time at 5 p.m. on Monday Sept. 25 and the next morning at 8 a.m. when the office opened back up. The Vista contacted Lissette Martinez, USD’s senior director of media relations, on the issue.  

“When Human Resources personnel walked into the office on the morning of September 26, they noticed a broken window on the ground floor of the office along with some personal items that had been removed from the scene,” Martinez said. 

This break-in follows six others that the student body was made aware of this semester, which all occurred in the Valley. The Maher HR break-in is the first non-residential break-in to be reported this semester. USD public relations addressed any concern about the confidential nature of materials in the Human Resources office and the status of those materials post-break-in. 

“The safety of our students and employees is of utmost importance, and this includes the protection of their personal information,” Martinez said. “It is important to note that all sensitive data in the Human Resource office is locked up and was not part of this break-in. Computers are also password-protected in these spaces.” 

Unlike the several residential cases of theft, no campus-wide alert was sent out notifying students of the situation in Maher’s HR department. Martinez noted that the university sends out these kinds of notifications based on federal regulations set by The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, or The Clery Act. 

“In order to initiate a timely warning, there must be a serious and ‘continuing’ threat to the campus community,” she explained. “This single incident was the first reported and was not determined to be a continuing threat.” 

The multiple accounts of residential break-ins and bike thefts that took place recently warranted a response due to the repetitive nature of the crimes. The break-in in Maher has not been replicated in any form and is therefore not currently considered a threat. 

Martinez shared that the investigation is ongoing. Public Safety is using surveillance footage and fingerprints from the scene to pursue various leads.

The USD Human Resources office break-in is not the only issue Maher Hall has recently faced. Last week, a sewer main break in the building resulted in the water being shut off in parts of Maher,  starting on Monday Oct. 2.

“We believe it impacted less than a third of the building’s rooms,” Steven Covella, assistant director of the university’s media relations, said. “As a result, affected rooms couldn’t use sinks, showers, toilets or drains beginning Monday afternoon.”

The water shut off left many of the students residing in Maher without a place to properly get dressed or retrieve drinking water in their dorm building, but Covella shared that “Residential Life was in touch with impacted building occupants via email and through door-to-door outreach and worked quickly with USD Facilities and Auxiliary Services to identify alternative restrooms and showers.” 

He went on to share some of these alternatives including unaffected Maher bathrooms, bathrooms   in nearby buildings and a tram that transported students to   restrooms in the  Jenny Craig Pavilion. Covella also noted that “premium portable restrooms and showers were quickly deployed and available by 8:30 a.m. Tuesday morning,” as well. 

USD first-year and Maher resident Allie Linane noted that the five day water shut off created a large inconvenience to her.

“I feel like the solution to it was not adequate,” Linane stated. “First they had no solution, they said not to use the water, but they didn’t have anything for us on what to do, where to use the bathroom or shower. I was really disappointed in the solution. The bathrooms and showers were not good, they didn’t smell good, the water   didn’t even turn on on mine.”

Linane noted that she had to create her own solution and used her friend’s   showers in a different dorm because she   was    dissatisfied by USD’s temporary options. 

Emails were sent throughout the week  keeping Maher residents updated on the situation. The water was turned back on Friday Oct. 6.

USD first-year Aayush Dulani also expressed frustration with the conditions in Maher. 

“We’re paying like ten grand for two    semesters to stay  here. And to not even get a little bit of money back,” Dulani said. “Obviously they didn’t do it on purpose,  but still we expect to  come to a maintained building where the sewage system wouldn’t leak.” 

As far as future concerns about this issue go, Covella stated that the university is working proactively to prevent another water shut off. 

“Maher Hall is one of the older buildings on USD’s campus, but this event was unanticipated. Systems for student residences are back in working order and the Facilities team is working to identify any upgrades   that   may be required for the building in  the future,” he said.

Maher Hall has not been free of issues throughout the last few weeks, but USD has assured the community that measures are being taken to ensure that students’ health and safety needs are met in the meantime.