It’s 7:20 in the morning at my off-campus apartment. The clanging of metal striking metal that rings across the entire East Bank campus has started, once again, literally feet from where I am trying to sleep and study. Not only is the noise a deafening assault from within my walls, as giant steel stakes are being driven deep into the earth with a crane-suspended hammer, but the vibrations the construction causes shake me from my sleep and cause my pencils to roll off of my desk if left unattended.

This project was not something that I had the luxury of anticipating when I signed my lease. I chose off-campus housing to have some quiet away from the typically high-strung campus life. Things were going swimmingly until the project to build this new dorm began, which doesn’t benefit me in any way.

My apartment management has refused to acknowledge this inconvenience in any monetary sense because the “cash-strapped” University of Minnesota has not compensated them in any way. Being woken up early, having my prime afternoon study hours consistently disrupted and witnessing a staggering increase in dust build up within my apartment are all things that I expect compensation for.

I find it offensive that the University has chosen to use my money to build a new dorm and cannot manage to even shrug at those that they are disturbing. I realize the University is low on on-campus housing, so I commend them for making some sort of move in the “right” direction. Plus, construction is common in the city. However, to disturb your students’ academic life, off-campus, no less, without batting an eye? And the University wants an extra 3 percent from me next year. Laughable.