Around the start of the new school year, Brillith Guillen remembers waking up to an awful stench in her on-campus apartment. The smell—resembling an old, musty gym locker, she said—was made worse by the late-summer sunlight coming through her window.
The heat left her room feeling sweaty, sticky, and uncomfortable.
“The heat traps it all in the middle of the night and because it’s so hot, and I don’t know how often the school has cleaned the carpets in our rooms,” said Guillen, a third-year clinical lab science student, who lives on campus. “There is a very noticeable smell in our rooms because of the heat and the moisture that gets trapped.”
The weekslong heat wave that gripped Southern California this summer was one for the record books, with average temperatures rising six to 15 degrees above normal.
Toros lamenting the living conditions of the Phase I and Phase II apartments isn’t anything new. The buildings were constructed in 1982 to house athletes and visitors for the 1984 Summer Olympics. For years, students have complained about mold, pests, damaged window screens and during LA’s steamy summer months, the unrelenting heat and humidity inside the units.
With forecasters expecting the current heat wave to continue into mid-October and temperatures potentially reaching triple digits in some areas, the lack of air conditioning remains a pressing concern for residents.
Guillen’s thermostat often hit 86 degrees over the summer, so she’d open her windows and retreat to campus to find temporary relief inside one of the air-conditioned buildings. She thought the apartment would be cooler by the time she returned—she was wrong. What’s worse, she told The Bulletin, University Housing would recommend that she just go back to campus.
“They did not tell us anything about AC being provided in the future, or how they can help us,” Guillen recalled. “They just tell us you can go to the library or any other campus building to cool off.”
Nathaniel Grijalva, who transferred to CSUDH, described to The Bulletin how uncomfortable it was to sleep during warm nights.
“There were nights where I wouldn’t be able to sleep under the covers because it was so hot when we were first moving in,” said Grijalva, a third-year business student. “Sometimes it gets to the point I’ll have to turn the fan on pretty high and sit in front of it.”
After a few weeks into the semester, University Housing emailed residents saying they could purchase or rent portable AC units for their apartments.
“I noticed people were complaining that they couldn’t bring AC units, then finally told us that we can,” Grijalva said. “Summer is already over.”
The email, reviewed by The Bulletin, cautioned residents against using “extension cords, power strips, or outlet adapters.” Residents were also instructed not to “run another major appliance on the same circuit at the same time.”
Meanwhile, students have watched the university continue to expand the campus with new buildings and residential spaces, including the new residence hall. The newer facilities feature modern amenities such as central air conditioning and heating, a large community kitchen and technology-equipped study lounges.
Some Phase I and Phase II residents say the university’s investment elsewhere has left them feeling neglected and questioning whether their units will ever be renovated.
“I feel like they don’t want to spend the money to upgrade and fix the old apartments,” Grijalva said. “They already made everything nice for the residence halls.”
The Bulletin contacted University Housing to comment on students’ concerns but did not receive a response by press time.
Yadhira Viramontes, a senior psychology student, has lived on campus since her freshman year in 2021. Viramontes said she had few issues with the building and that it generally met her needs. That changed in August, when the school began requiring residence hall students to purchase meal plans at the new Dining Commons.
“We are already paying $5,000 to live in the building, and now we are required to pay an extra $3,000,” Viramontes told The Bulletin. “That’s the only reason I’m planning to move to the old apartments, since you’re not required to pay since you have a kitchen.”
Viramontes said she decided to move to the older apartments for her final year to avoid the additional expense.
“I look forward to moving into the old apartments, but the AC in the dorms—that’s something I’m going to miss,” Viramontes admitted.