Students complain Quad mail still slow

An Undergraduate Assembly member and several Quadrangle residents complained yesterday that mail distribution in the dormitory, which has been criticized as inefficient this semester, is still slow and shoddy. Under the new system implemented this fall by the South Campus office, the five houses in the Quad must send workers to sort their section's mail. South Campus officials changed the policy to save money and increase the number of people working for the Quad, South Campus Director Tomas Leal said last month. But UA member Ethan Youderian said yesterday the system does not work. Two weeks after students first complained, residents said the mail is still not on schedule: unsorted letters are still piled in the mailroom and Saturday mail is often not delivered. Youderian said Community House and Butcher/Speakman/Class of '28 have especially poor service. The College freshman, who serves on the UA's Facilities Committee, and three other students discussed the problem with Leal yesterday. Although Leal and Deputy Vice Provost George Koval said last month that delivery problems would be corrected by now, Leal told the UA representative yesterday that Community House currently has nine boxes of unsorted mail. "Tomas Leal was very very receptive to what we're saying," Youderian said. "The administration is all very helpful and willing to deal with the problem, but we haven't seen any results." Youderian said South Campus should hire more workers and either revert to the previous system of mail distribution -- in which South Campus hired mailroom students -- or refine the current one. "I want the Quad to have all their mail, all the time," Youderian said. "Everyone else in the country gets their mail. The people in the Quad should be no exception." Deputy Vice Provost Koval said yesterday that he will meet this morning with Residential Living officials to determine the extent of the problem. He added that they will discuss ways to resolve any backlog in mail distribution. Leal, who has hired two temporary mailroom workers, could not be reached for comment yesterday. College freshman Belinda Rosenfield, who sorts mail for Upper Quad and attended yesterday's meeting with Leal, said more workers are needed. She said seven students are sorting mail for the approximately 1500 residents. Rosenfield added that there is a "huge problem" with the distribution of intramural mail, saying it is often delivered late. In addition, misaddressed letters are usually sent back to the post office because students, unlike workers last spring, do not have the time or the means to reroute them to the proper address. Packages are the first priority, she said, mainly because they take too much space. But Rosenfield added that students are not helping the problem. "Students are really rude," she said. "No one appreciates you . . . People should know what's going on before they start being rude and arrogant about it."

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