“The Ritz” at the University of Denver is open, but just because it’s open, doesn’t mean that it was ready for business. Nelson Hall opened its doors to students with lots of pomp and unusual circumstances.

There are several nicely finished rooms at Nelson, but some of the rooms follow the newest architectural trend at DU: cement ceilings complete with chalk lines and exposed pipes. But the industrial trend doesn’t stop there.

There are two types of closets in Nelson: big and unfinished or small and finished. The larger closets are large enough, but have the same architectural style as the ceilings-and these are the nice ones. However, if you want a finished closet at Nelson, you better be ready to give up about two feet of space.

Then there are the windows. One or two per room, or the entire room is the window. The “window rooms” consist of a six-foot window that takes up a large portion of the room, and all windows are without screens. Safety at its best?

The options for bathrooms are even more abundant. First, though, residents had to remove the first six inches of dirt and cement that the plumbers left on the fixtures. All the bathrooms have toilets that most of the nation’s hospitalized elderly would appreciate-they’re high enough that you barely have to bend your knees to sit, and if you have any problems getting up, there are plenty of bars to grab.

The showers also have a plethora of options. First, there is a normal shower with a tall enough shower curtain rod to give a giant privacy, or there is a handicapped person’s version with the drain at the highest point, causing all of the water to drain into the bathroom. Students using the showers are being advised by their resident assistants to purchase cement bricks to use to block the water from gushing out. What’s next? Sandbags?

Public buildings have to and must be accessible to the handicapped, but why are all the bathrooms designed like this? A handicapped person who would need these facilities shouldn’t live on a floor that is only accessible by stairs or an elevator. What would they do in case of a fire?

But are students nitpicking? After all, they live in a building that has a nice lobby, a large cafeteria with a miniature kitchen, security that is as tight as most prisons, access to a kitchen on every floor, bathrooms and kitchens with nice countertops and a stain-free mattress. Heck, the stain-free mattress is enough of an upgrade from the other residence halls on campus. And there must be building codes that would explain the flooded bathrooms, screen-less windows and more.