St. Thomas's Construction has severely inconvenienced students who live on South Campus and commute

I have a student that lives in Grace. When we learned of the 2023/24 housing assignment, we raised concerns about construction with Residence Life in April of 2023. We were reassured the impact would be minimal and that construction would not start until near the end of Spring semester.
I am extremely concerned about the safety and mental health of the students living here and under these conditions. College life is stressful enough! As parents, we have not been provided any information and our concerns have not been adequately addressed by UST administration. If there is an emergency in this building how will fire/ambulance access the building? How will these students move out in the Spring? The long list of questions and concerns are alarming in my opinion. Saint Thomas needs to address the concerns of parents and students in a way that is meaningful. Please keep in mind, most of the students live here due of the mandatory rule for sophomores to live on campus. Given the choice and knowing what they would living with now, most would have opted to live off campus this year. They were not given a choice! Saint Thomas knows this, and it is not right to see how these students are being impacted in the name of progress.

The plans to start construction have been rapidly moved forward and communication has been delayed to students who live here. Many residents are concerned about safety and noise. St. Thomas has sent out vague emails and hollow apologies. Students with parking passes were told that finding parking for the permit they paid for would be nearly impossible if not fully impossible. Students are sent emails days before that hot water will be turned off for a period of time or that there will be no water access at all in Cretin. So if students had to go to the bathroom we would have to walk over to Grace. South Campus students don't deserve to live in conditions like these. Let's see those making the decisions about South Campus live here.

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My child lives in Grace not by choice but because if lottery. There was no transparency about how this construction would negatively affect the living experience for students and as a former UST employee i am blown away that this is how Residence Life is handling things. Of course there should be a huge refund and an apology for students and families.

I live in grace hall and agree with everything being said. This is not what I signed up for when I said I was going to live here last year. There also has never been any information given to us as residents about changes happening. I walked one way out of my dorm this morning and when I came back later had to go a completely new way without anything being told or communicated to me.

Construction workers have access into the building to use the bathrooms and it makes me and my friends uncomfortable walking past them every morning when they stare at us creepily. parking has been extremely difficult and in comparison to my living situation last year at Tommy North, it feels like St. Thomas has taken zero consideration for students living on South campus.

Because it’s dangerous and a safety hazard that these students have. What if there’s a fire, someone’s gets hurt, anything u can thing of? If no one can get through to help then it’s putting your students are major risks. And having to walk so much out of there way for no reason. Crime is high now a days and even saying there’s a high chance that if one of your students have to take a long unsafe way to there dorm they can get jumped, anything.

I am directly affected as a commuter student. Not only are we paying to park in spots that no longer exist, the lack of parking has caused me to be late to class on multiple occasions. Leaving 20+ minutes before class doesn't help either because countless students do the same. The communication from the university was laughable, stating that parking may be "difficult to impossible". They suggest students find "alternative types of transport" but that is also difficult to impossible. With St. Thomas knowingly overselling passes and now charging students to essentially not park, the unethical nature of this move has changed my view on the university. It breaks my heart because I have loved my time at St. Thomas, but it is clear they are more interested about potential revenue than their students.

I haven’t slept in the last two weeks because of the noise and they have the audacity to work on construction at 8 AM on Saturday morning. you can’t open your windows at all because the noise is so loud and if you do open the window, you can’t hear anything that’s going on in your apartment and it’s just blowing dust and crap into your apartment.

Because we are paying too much to live in an active, unsafe construction zone. The many risks that are posed to South Campus residents for the duration of this semester are affecting my mental health and sleep, among other factors.

Because of how inconvenienced I have been even living on north campus. Either. Parking permit many people have taken up the parking spots In r2 and r3 which causes me to not be able to find parking

My sister and family are being very negatively affected by this. We are struggling enough financially as it is to pay tuition for college and this was something we should have at least been notified of prior to committing to living in the dorms. We could have made a better financial decision as well as a better decision for overall health and well being during difficult years. This is unfair and something should be done to make amends to those negatively affected.

I live on south campus, and not only has this construction made life here more difficult, but it created an environment I cannot enjoy living in. Constant noises from construction, safety hazards, limited walking paths, etc. all make it hard to enjoy life on campus when I’m surrounded in this environment.

It's super unfair to those living both in and off campus. I'm a commuter and can't ever find parking

Because parking on or anywhere near campus has become nearly impossible. Making it frustrating that we have to pay for parking yet rarely get a spot. making many students late to class or leaving us vulnerable to parking tickets from campus security or the city after being forced onto the street (where we do not have permits) or angry neighbors who hundreds of students are now encroaching on.

It inconveniences my stroll I take to my classes

I live on south campus and own a parking pass.

Because it involves people I know and am friends with.

I go to school at the University of St. Thomas and I have multiple friends who live on south campus. I have heard how much they have been inconvenienced and I think they truly deserve to be compensated for the effects of construction on their lives this year.

Friends who have to walk to class have a difficult time and it is extremely time consuming

My son lives in Grace Hall and he does not feel comfortable or safe living there anymore with the construction. Parking is a mess for him and walking is not safe either. There is no access for emergency vehicles to get to them if there is an emergency or fire.

This is important because these are my fellow classmates. St Thomas did not notify students of this and they are paying way too much for the living conditions they are being given.

This petition is important to me, because I live in Grace hall. Due to the construction, utilities, accessibility to class, parking, and any dorm related activities (weather that be studying, taking a nap, attending online classes or meetings) has been affected in a very negative way. In light of these experiences It's very easy to see that the students that live on South Campus (most of which are forced to live there due to the 2 year housing requirement) are being denied the basic standard of living that was promised to them, and that other students have that don't live on South Campus. The University St. Thomas's utter disregard for students is unacceptable and something must be done to make it right.

St. Thomas only cares about money, they do not prioritize their current students

I live in grace and it’s horrendous. This school has absolutely zero respect for their students and only care about their image and the profit they make off of students.

Because parking at ust sucks and only benefits the university whereas students not only have to deal with the stress of school but of possibly not finding safe and fair parking

We are paying full price to live in an active construction zone. I can’t sleep in, I can’t work from home without interruption. Now, I can’t even access my dorm easily, there is no accessible path to get there. They rerouted us way behind the building with no warning and no clear directions. If there is an emergency there is no way to access the building by vehicle. I am paying $500+ for parking that is now a 10 minute walk around the construction.

Construction has severely inconvenienced students.

I live on south campus and it’s unfair for us to be paying the same amount as other students just to me inconvenienced every day by the construction

I pay to live here, i should not be inconvenienced by construction noise at 7am and forced detours that prolong my already long walk to class.

Grace Hall has become an unacceptable place to house students