ResLife hazardous to student health

The discovery of mold in the Town Houses (as reported in the Oct. 29 and Nov. 5 issues of The Miscellany News) has generated many questions about the safety and living conditions throughout campus housing. While Town Houses D2 and D7 are currently under renovation to remedy the hazardous health conditions caused by the presence of mold, this action was the direct result of persistent efforts made by the residents.

Although the Office of Residential Life and Buildings and Grounds are planning to assess the issue in all Town Houses, students are still potentially living in unsafe and unhealthy conditions. Michael Spath, Director of Environmental Health and Safety, said “[mold] is everywhere, there is mold in every building, on every surface, there are spores everywhere. So unless there is an actual health effect or unless there is a vast area affected, we don’t test. When students were reporting health problems, we went in and took some tape tests and sent them off to an outside consultant to have them analyzed.” The experience of these ten students suggests the larger issue of the Office of Res Life’s reactive method of addressing issues.

The Town Houses, as well as South Commons, were originally built as temporary housing to solve an immediate need for additional living space. However, as class sizes have grown, and existing dorms have warranted renovation, these structures have become permanent, despite the many problems that have arisen due to their structural inadequacies. This situation, reflects the limitations of funding and college resources. Nonetheless, Res Life is still responsible for maintaining a safe living environment for students. The office’s failure to proactively identify potential risks exponentially increases problems as they arise.

At the spring 2004 senior housing meeting, Res Life said that students’ access to the town house basements would be prohibited due to mold, which had already damaged items during the ’030-’04 year. Res Life was aware of the existing mold problem as early as second semester last year. As the mold was seemingly contained within the basement, Res Life simply restricted basement use without direct resolution of the problem. According to the “Guidelines on Assessment and Remediation of Fungi in Indoor Environments,” published by the New York City Department of Health in 2002, mold spores can easily become airborne, spreading throughout an entire building, particularly through ventilation systems. In the Town Houses, the ventilation system originates in the basement.

Director of Residential Life Faith Nichols said Buildings and Grounds is going to conduct “site excavation around the perimeter of the basement to see if we need to reseal the basement. We have cleaned out every basement…and we have put dehumidifiers in some of the ones that are the worst… The next step now is to spend the rest of this winter and early spring looking at extended work and then putting into plan by next summer a complete renovation of the Town Houses.” There are currently no plans to address the potential spread of mold through the ventilation systems.

The problem of mold is not only limited to the Town Houses. According to Nichols there is a developing mold problem in the Cushing House basement storage area. There are plans to remove stored items and repair damage. Though Res Life is developing plans to address these problems, the potential magnitude of the problem would be significantly less had immediate action been taken when Res Life was first made aware of the presence of mold. With the lack of a proactive response, the problem has grown beyond the scope of a simple clean up. The Town Houses status as temporary housing might not be worth investing in, but apparently they are still ok to house students. Overall, Res Life must take a proactive stance in making sure each and ever student is housed in a safe and healthy environment.

Unsigned editorials represent a two-thirds majority opinion of the editorial board.