UH dorms revived with sounds of student life

By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer

Amelia Hicks and Jenna Dearth were scrubbing away with Comet and Clorox in their dirty new digs at the Noelani Dormitory yesterday when Dave Mayer and Sonny Kitahara from upstairs came by to apologize for bouncing basketballs on the floor above.

UH student Joe Matyas has his hands full as he prepares to move into his dorm at the University of Hawai'i. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

And while many thought cleaning up and hauling all those boxes was a drag, it was clear that dorm life is about relationships as well as real estate.

Oh, and classes, too.

Dearth, 25, from Margate, N.J., said she came to UH from College of New Jersey primarily to pursue graduate work in American Studies, but also because "it's a cool thing about being in Hawai'i to be able to meet a lot of local people, and people from all over the place."

Learning to live with other people in the close quarters of a dorm is part of the educational process, according to Hicks, 22, who transferred to UH as a senior after studying at Mills College in California and Wellesley College in Massachusetts.

She said she chose Hawai'i because the other schools, while pricey and prestigious, weren't big enough to offer the courses she needs to pursue her studies in global environmental science.

As for roommates and neighbors, she said, she was relieved — after being away from school a few years — that they were "older" and not all teenagers.

One was Mayer, 22, of Maui, who played out his basketball eligibility at Dennison College, a small liberal arts school in Ohio, before returning to Hawai'i to attend graduate school in Manoa.

"Hey, how's it going, I'm Dave," Mayer said, stopping by the women's open window.

"I hope we didn't bother you with our little game of basketball."

"That's the way they move (in)," Dearth said. "Move a little, play a little basketball, move some more."

Roommate roulette can be risky, said Kitahara, 22, a junior transfer student from Cerritos, Calif.

"But we got lucky," he said. "Dave's hobbies are the same, our interests are the same — basketball, music, surfing."

"You guys aren't going to be banging a lot of surfboards around upstairs, too, are you?" Jenna asked.

The most annoying behavior by a roommate?

"Internet porn," Mayer said. "At my dorm at Dennison, I had this 6-foot, 10-inch guy from Croatia — they put all the basketball players together — and he had that Internet porn going all the time. It was so bad."

"Boyfriends can be hard to deal with," Dearth said. "They come over all the time."

Social life can be a distraction, she added, "but it helps balance things. You have to be disciplined, but if classes was all you thought about, you'd go crazy."

Dearth and Hicks said they were disappointed at the condition of the dorm they moved into yesterday.

"I read about the University of Hawai'i, and it seemed like the more popular thing for people in Hawai'i to do was to send their kids to the Mainland," Dearth said.

"So the University of Hawai'i should be on top of things like the condition of the dorms, in order to compete."

Conditions in their room were so bad that another student, UH senior Kelly Sakata of Honolulu, took one look and moved back out. A bathroom faucet wouldn't turn off, a bedroom door wouldn't close or lock, and ceilings were decorated with mold, she said.

Sakata's mother, Kathleen Keeler, said she called dorm management and got an answering machine, then complained directly to UH President Evan Dobelle's office and the housing director.

Sakata said yesterday she was moved to another room in the same complex.

As for Dearth and Hicks, they were hoping they could finish cleaning up the apartment in time to go to the "Fear Factor" contest the dorms were staging for new residents, and the evening barbecue.

And school begins?

"Monday," Dearth said. "That's tomorrow. Don't remind us."

Reach Walter Wright at wwright@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8054.