Addressing Laundry on the Warren Wilson Campus (NOT Clickbait)
Jonah Turner | April 1, 2026
An note reading, “3/30 Out of Order, Parts Needed” on top of a CSC washer at Warren Wilson College (WWC) on March 31, 2026 in Swannanoa, N.C. (Echo/Emma Taylor McCallum)
As of February 2026, more than half of Warren Wilson College’s (WWC) washers and dryers were out of order in some way, according to a campus-wide survey taken by Housing and Resident Life (HRL).
WWC partners with CSC ServiceWorks for all laundry-related facilities, the “leading provider of laundry solutions and air vending services through the United States and Canada,” according to their website. They report more than a million machines currently in operation, and more than 95 years of service. Their website paints a picture of innovation, service and dependability.
Washing machines from CSC Service Works, the laundry contracting company used by Warren Wilson College, March 31, 2026 in Swannanoa, N.C. (Echo/Emma Taylor McCallum)
As of February, however, student feedback was anything but positive. HRL manages the contract and maintenance connection between WWC and CSC ServiceWorks; as it happens, discourse surrounding the renewal of the contract is on the rise amongst college leadership, chief amongst them, Vice President of Student Engagement and Dean of Students Gilbert Hinga.
The current contract with CSC ServiceWorks is set to expire in May, after the conclusion of the academic semester.
“We are in a mode of talking about contracts, what services they provide and their response rate,” Hinga said. “All of that is part of the conversation.”
A recent repair initiative began shortly after the current Associate Vice President of Residence Life, Compliance, & Conduct, Joel Bluml, arrived on campus two short weeks before campus’s spring break in March.
“It did not take long after me getting here to realize that this was an issue that needed a meeting,” Bluml said.
During spring break, Bluml and HRL diagnosed laundry-related issues across campus, with the help of students and Resident Assistants (RAs). A comprehensive general service request was submitted, and during the week, a team from the regional CSC ServiceWork offices in Charlotte, NC, traveled to WWC’s campus to complete each work order on the list.
The physical service was not the only component lacking on CSC’s part: with further investigation, cracks in the CSC ServiceWorks digital system began to show. Bugs in the digital software involving the submission of service requests became clear as HRL continued to investigate the lack of response from the contracting company.
“Hopefully they can improve that piece of it, because it was a part of the problem as well,” Bluml said. “There was a break in the chain of communication.”
So can students expect the consistent upkeep of the washers after the most recent fix-all initiative? Bluml was hesitant to guarantee anything, and recognized that just because they were all repaired over the campus’s spring break, the washers and dryers are not necessarily 100%.
“What we can commit to is that we understand the importance to students, so we’re going to keep our eye on the ball,” Bluml said.
It is the responsibility of CSC ServiceWorks to be able to replace machines as they age out, according to Hinga.
“Do what you [CSC] need to do,” Hinga said. “What I am not comfortable with is students going to a machine, it’s not working today, [maybe] it’s working tomorrow, and eventually having to haul laundry somewhere else to get it done.”
Even though it is the responsibility of CSC ServiceWorks to provide laundry service, Bluml also emphasized the unintentional, yet increased duress that WWC students tend to put on the machines.
“There are a lot of colleges that don't have people working on a farm, working with animals, doing a forestry crew, working with pottery and clay, and so on,” Bluml said. “We do test these machines.”
Despite that, the fact remains that CSC is obligated to provide an unconditional service, and that service was supposedly returned to its standard through the burst of initiative taken by HRL in March.
“That needs to be a basic need that's been met, and to me, that is not unreasonable,” Hinga said. “I don't think that is something that cannot be achieved consistently. It can.”
Bluml hopes that the closer attention to laundry will represent the change that HRL is attempting to bring to campus life.
“It's laundry, but it's also listening,” Bluml said.
Ultimately, March’s laundry repair initiative and the resetting of standards powered by HRL proves that student feedback can be vocal, will be heard, and is acted upon by campus leadership in those instances, according to Hinga.
“Students shouldn't have to think deeply about these sorts of things, really,” Bluml said. “We want to get [back] to the level where you don’t have students contemplating the renewal of the laundry contract.”