When I joined the Pi Kappa Alpha (Pike) fraternity at Washington and Lee University, I was nervous about living in the chapter house. I’d seen clips from “Animal House” and heard plenty of stereotypes about the supposed pig-pen I was to be living in. But that attitude changed when I learned that fraternity houses are on-campus housing maintained by the university.
That’s why I was again confused when I saw moldy air conditioning units, the negligent and unsafe demolition of our porch and the university’s refusal to address the lack of air conditioning in all common areas of our 100-year-old building. I’m writing this article on behalf of my fraternity to encourage the university to update, renovate and repair the Pike House to the standard of other on-campus residential buildings.
Every fraternity house has window AC units and central heating, per Washington and Lee’s website. In the Pike House, AC units are only in bedrooms. These AC units have worked well enough, especially since (as of last year) we’re no longer expected to buy our own and pay the school to install them.
That’s until we discovered mold in several AC units within the last year. Several Pike members say they’ve experienced routine respiratory issues in the last year that subside only when they leave campus for break. Kelan Joiner, ’27, said that when he discovered mold, he filed a work order and had his unit cleaned. Only days later, however, he said the mold re-appeared.
We don’t have this issue in the first-floor common area, kitchen and dining room because there is no AC there at all. In the early fall and spring, our first floor feels like an oven.
That’s why Kailesh Amilcar, ’26, filed a work order with Washington and Lee facilities in September to install window AC units on the first floor. Facilities declined this request. Customer Service Assistant Debbie Visconti said in an email reply to Amilcar that though the university “understand[s] the importance of this request,” it requires approval from a “higher source” through a Capital Funding Request.
And Greek housing isn’t alone. Several theme houses don’t have central AC, including the ARC House, Global Service House and Nuestro Hogar Latino, per the university’s website. But most on-campus housing —including Third Year, Woods Creek and both first-year dorms — have central AC. This disparity is true even though all on-campus housing costs the same.
Ultimately, we can live without central AC — so long as our window AC units are safe.
Capital Funding Requests (CFRs) can be used for larger-scale construction, renovations, repairs and equipment upgrades, per Washington and Lee’s website. When Pike’s Housing Director Jesse McGuire filed a CFR for window AC units on our behalf, he was denied. McGuire said Director of Residence Life Chris Reid told him there were specific rules that prevent the installation of ground-level window units for buildings on Main Street.
But Lexington Planning Director Arne Glaser said window units are allowed so long as they do not drip onto the sidewalk. And the part of the Pike House facing Main Street is set back by a yard from the public sidewalk. Though Glaser said there’s an approval process for any changes made to buildings on Main Street, there are no prohibitive restrictions to our request.
McGuire said Reid offered him floor AC units, but the university has not yet installed them. He said he’s filed nearly a dozen CFRs over the last decade and had all of them denied.
When asked for comment, Reid said he acts as an intermediary between House Directors and University Facilities. Reid said the policies he relayed to McGuire came from facilities rather than the City of Lexington. He said he’s open to “revisiting the conversation… to see if guidelines have changed or explore alternative options.”
The issue then becomes: who was this rule created for? We’re one of just two on-campus housing options on Main Street. If the City of Lexington ultimately allows it, why doesn’t facilities advocate on behalf of us students instead of making things more difficult?
If the university claims that they care about the appearance of their property more than the City does, I’d struggle to believe them, given the neglect shown to key areas of upkeep.
Another neglected issue concerns our now non-existent back porch on the Red-Square-facing side of our house. In the fall of 2023, W&L facilities said our porch would be torn down because they discovered mold in at least one of its four columns.
McGuire said he notified facilities of the mold risk due to leaf-clogged gutters several times in the last 10 years, which prompted no action from the university prior to the porch’s total demolition. While the university spent $40.5 million on capital improvements like the new Williams School, saving our decades-old wooden porch didn’t make the cut.
This, astonishingly, brings us back to air conditioners. Demolition workers wore full hazmat gear as they stripped asbestos-ridden debris, the dust from which invariably filtered into my second-floor room as my air conditioner sucked it in.
This was another clear example of negligence. I only found out about the potential for hazardous material to filter into my room because I noticed the full protective garb. There were no emails, no notices and no meetings with students about safety precautions we could take.
Again, I have no issue with window AC units themselves. But the university needs to be more responsible in its dealings with students who have them.
My final big issue concerns our furniture. Our house has not gotten an original piece of furniture in a decade, which was a set of wooden chairs. Everything else we’ve gotten since then has been secondhand from other on-campus residence halls — or salvaged by McGuire from a scrap heap on back campus. I ask W&L administration: why are we less deserving of new furniture, to the point where we’re given hand-me-downs?
At an institution with a $2 billion endowment, I’m disappointed and frustrated at the lack of attention, care and respect shown to my fraternity house compared to other on-campus dorms. I’m not saying it’s in total shambles — much of the house is clean, safe and presentable — but it’s key issues like these that bar me from total satisfaction.
I invite any administrator who takes issue with this article to reach out to me directly. I don’t believe this school is “anti-Greek” or out to get us. But intent only goes so far when we’ve got mold in our AC units, no AC at all downstairs and hazardous material being scraped off just outside our windows — while paying the same price as everyone else.
