Construction and repairs on utility distribution systems will cause shutdowns of Brody Complex’s hot water system and Kellogg Center’s hot water and cooling system during Labor Day weekend, the first weekend after the fall semester begins.

“Often, many students return home for the holiday weekend to be with family, and the weekend is historically a low-occupancy period for the hotel,” Residential and Hospitality Services Chief Marketing Communication Officer Tony Frewen said in an email. “The major benefit of a planned repair such as this is in minimizing the possibility of an unexpected failure in the future.”

But Rather Hall resident and journalism sophomore Nick Tafelsky won’t be heading home Labor Day weekend and said he’s not sure that many of his friends will be leaving either.

“It’s going to be a little bit inconvenient, but considering the fact that I’m going to live in a dorm that’s going to be brand new … it’s a small price to pay,” Tafelsky said. “If it’s a long ongoing process, I’m going to be a little disappointed.”

Luckily for Tafelsky, chilly water will not be a problem for too long.

Frewen said with the scheduled repair, water temperature will only be an issue for less than 24 hours, from 1 p.m. Sept. 2 until 5 a.m. Sept. 3. He added the repair might also impact Harrison Road traffic but will keep the system from an unexpected failure that could take five to 10 days to repair.

The Brody Complex system is more than 50 years old and “no longer able to provide reliable service,” according to the MSU Construction website.

But accounting freshman Shane Kahn said he still doesn’t understand, especially because other construction is being done on campus this summer while the student population is small. He added he is very glad his residence hall won’t be impacted by the repairs, as it might make the transition to a new environment more difficult.

“I don’t know why it couldn’t have been done before Labor Day weekend or when students left over Christmas break,” Kahn said. “There would be less use of the building, there would be fewer people around and it wouldn’t be as big a deal.”

But the decision involved much more than the impact on students, Frewen said.

“Over the course of the summer, MSU welcomes thousands of guests to campus for summer conferences of all kinds,” Frewen said.

“The decision of when to schedule repairs attempted to balance the needs and activities of campus while trying to minimize inconvenience to our guests during the brief repairs.”