{"id":2757,"date":"2026-09-18T00:01:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T00:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/?p=2757"},"modified":"2026-10-19T20:50:54","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T20:50:54","slug":"too-hot-hot-dorms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/09\/18\/too-hot-hot-dorms\/","title":{"rendered":"Too hot, hot dorms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Maddie Miller<\/a> \u00b7 Contributing Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dorms like Hopeman Hall have felt the heat of warm months. (GCC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With humidity reaching maximum levels across Pennsylvania, neither students nor college dorms are handling the heat well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Aug. 29 through Sunday, nine nights of 14 reached 100% humidity. Grove City is experiencing heat so intense that not even sweat can evaporate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKind of feels like a bit of a sauna in there,\u201d junior Hannah Jasko, a resident of Mary Anderson Pew Hall (MAP), said. \u201cI do a lot of my work in the room, so it’s my place where I get to focus. But since it\u2019s so hot in there, that kind of impairs my focus. And also, especially at night, it\u2019s the most impactful when you’re trying to go to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As no dorm has air conditioning, this sentiment is common throughout campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSleeping with it is the worst,\u201d senior Jack Davis, a resident of Ketler Hall, said. \u201cIt just makes living in the dorms uncomfortable, or just staying in there. I typically have to combat the heat through opening the windows; bugs get in, and that\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While unable to do anything about the weather, the college has heard the complaints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Susan Grimm, vice president for operations, offered guidelines to students to maximize nighttime cold air and keep out the afternoon heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt night when it’s cool, if you open your window and put a fan in it, it will draw in the cool air,\u201d Grimm said. \u201cDuring the day when you are at class (and it\u2019s hot outside), close your windows and pull down the shades.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, if following these guidelines does not sufficiently reduce heat, the only way to be allowed an air conditioning unit is through Disability Services. According to the air conditioning request form, \u201cThe student must submit current medical documentation from a pulmonologist, allergist or other relevant licensed medical professional, which supports the student\u2019s medical need for air conditioning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If students successfully follow this process, they still must provide their own air conditioning unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While renovations occur in other areas of campus, Jeffery Prokovich, vice president for institutional advancement, explained why air-conditioning systems will not be installed anytime soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur residence halls are not designed for air conditioning, and, given their age, this installation would be extremely difficult and extremely expensive,\u201d Prokovich said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grimm agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven the addition of window units would be cost-prohibitive because the electrical requirements to support that effort would be very high. When the buildings were built, there were not as many electrical demands on the building,\u201d Grimm said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The electrical needs of modern devices and appliances make adding air conditioning more unfeasible, Grimm said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the dorms were built 50 to 100 years ago, and Jasko and Davis live in the two oldest halls (89-year-old MAP South and 94-year-old Ketler). The dorms\u2019 brick structure and summer\u2019s seemingly unrelenting humidity collaborate to turn rooms into insulated, cooling-resistant chambers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For students struggling to get the eight hours of suggested sleep, these conditions can be particularly harmful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As National Sleep Foundation research has found, colder temperatures tend to encourage quality sleep more than hotter temperatures do, and sleeping too warm \u201ccan increase wakefulness and interrupt important phases of your sleep cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such interruptions can cause memory issues, difficulty focusing and emotional dysregulation, according to the National Institute of Health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Jasko and Davis, a plausible fix seems unlikely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOther than implementing air conditioning into the buildings, I\u2019m not sure that anything else would really help,\u201d Jasko said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just really hope there is a solution,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Maddie Miller \u00b7 Contributing Writer With humidity reaching maximum levels across Pennsylvania, neither students nor college dorms are handling the heat well. From Aug. 29 through Sunday, nine nights of 14 reached 100% humidity. Grove City is experiencing heat so intense that not even sweat can evaporate. \u201cKind of feels like a bit of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[186,7],"tags":[178,250,231,18,181],"class_list":["post-2757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus","category-news","tag-2026-edition","tag-campus","tag-maddie-miller","tag-news","tag-sept-18"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/hopeman.webp",500,391,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/hopeman-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/hopeman-300x235.webp",300,235,true],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/hopeman.webp",500,391,false],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/hopeman.webp",500,391,false],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/hopeman.webp",500,391,false],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/hopeman.webp",500,391,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"puruckermt24","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/puruckermt24\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Maddie Miller \u00b7 Contributing Writer With humidity reaching maximum levels across Pennsylvania, neither students nor college dorms are handling the heat well. From Aug. 29 through Sunday, nine nights of 14 reached 100% humidity. Grove City is experiencing heat so intense that not even sweat can evaporate. \u201cKind of feels like a bit of…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2757"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2924,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2757\/revisions\/2924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}