School Officials Mistakenly Remove Roe Furniture

By Baylul Alem and Evan Le’Mon, The Whetstone

All that furniture in Roe Hall that Wesley College decided to throw away? They didn’t have to. And now it’s too late.

Junior Kevin Johnson was walking to his room last semester, when maintenance workers walked past him carrying the couch from his lobby.

“I thought they might’ve been bringing new furniture, but I got up here and it was literally nothing but the microwave sitting on the ground,” he said.

The furniture is gone. Most of it was thrown away. The three microwaves remain, but they’re now on milk crates.

According to Delaware’s Fire Code, dormitory hallways aren’t allowed to have furniture as they could potentially hinder a quick exit in case of emergency. However, the furniture in the hallway “lounges” in Roe hasn’t been an issue during past inspections by the fire department.

“The furniture and microwaves were determined by the Deputy Fire Marshal during an inspection to be in the hallway, which is in violation of the Dover City Fire Code, therefore had to be removed,” said Walt Beaupre, head of security.

But it looks like those who decided to remove the furniture were wrong.

“The Fire Marshal approved the placement of furniture in the common areas of Roe Hall, providing they did not obstruct anyone from exiting their rooms,” Beaupre said. “However, the microwaves had to be removed and relocated to the common area entrance way.”

By then, however, all of the furniture was gone.

Roe Hall Senior RA Ryan Shilling said he was told the fire inspector said the hallways were not up to code and was not meant to be a lounge. He said no notice was given to anyone, including student affairs or President Clark.

“I don’t know if we got a new fire marshal or what – they don’t really tell us anything, not even when they’re coming to inspect,” Shilling said. “Maybe they came because of all the fire alarms being triggered last year.”

Clark asked the fire marshal for clarification after he heard about it.

“I had the fire marshal (who supervises the fire inspectors) come out and review the area,” Beaupre said.

There were several instances last semester of the fire alarm being triggered for seemingly no reason and the ID scanner not working afterwards, essentially locking the residents out.

Shilling said there has been some blowback from residents as a result of the removal of the furniture.

“The residents liked hanging out in the lobbies, especially the freshman since they’re so close-knit,” he said. “A lot of the residents assumed that we took them, so we’ve just had to relay the message that it wasn’t our decision. Fire code is way above us.”

Shilling also said that having floor meetings without “that area for people to sit down” is more difficult.

“Everybody just wants their couches back,” he said.

Residents of Roe Hall said the lounge area looks plain and dull now without the furniture.

“It seems as if the inspector was very hasty and quick to remove the furniture without informing the Area coordinator of Roe, and others just to avoid the fine,” said Lauren Gray, a sophomore in Roe Hall.

Johnson thinks the loss of the lounges will affect the freshman more than anyone.

“I don’t really chill in the lobby that much now, but I did my freshman year,” he said. “If this had happened back then I would’ve been mad because that’s where we all hung out and got to know each other.”

Johnson met a lot of friends in his floor’s lounge his freshman year during a floor meeting.

“A lot of them are still my friends today,” he said. “They became my core circle at Wesley.”

Roe Hall RA Mercedes Myrick was unhappy with the turn of events.

“These are residential halls, not jail cells or an insane asylum,” she said. “We need to have community inside the dorm because it helps to develop the social skills that we’ll need outside of school.”

Myrick says she was told that the furniture was never supposed to be removed- only the microwaves. All six were supposed to be moved to the main lobby.

“We were supposed to get our furniture back, but it was thrown away,” Myrick said. “They probably threw it away because they didn’t have space for it, but it needed to be thrown away anyway because it was old and raggedy. I spoke to the President and he said there’s a budget to get new furniture that comes from maintenance, but they want to by new mattresses and bed frames first.”

However, Myrick feels like the lounge furniture should take priority.

“I understand that getting new mattresses and bed frames is important, but they knew that the lounge furniture was a problem a long time ago,” she said. “They just let it sit there until it was completely run-down, and that’s not fair. I just don’t understand how they can say they don’t have enough money to replace the furniture, but they’re talking about building a whole new residence hall. We need to focus on the problems with the dorms we have now.”