Housing responds to report of dorm mold

A "serious health concern" reported by local news station WGNX has sent Housing Department officials scrambling to respond to the channel's allegations.

Extensive growth of mold on the walls and ceilings in a dorm room in Montag Hall was shown in the report, which cited an epidemic of mold growth among many rooms in the dormitory.

A freshman student interviewed in the report said, "I just feel like I am living in this unhealthy jail cell, and I can't do anything about it.people have been coughing, and [had] stuffy noses, and things like that."

Although the mold was cleaned up soon after the news report, the Department of Housing maintains that they did not receive a work request to remove the mold prior to the on-campus investigation by WGNX news.

"We have procedures set up for people who have complaints.and these were not used," said Fran Gillis, associate director for Facilities.

The student who was interviewed by WGNX declined comment to the Technique regarding the incident.

Housing cited the web-based "work order" system, where residents have the capability to file maintenance requests for their residence as the standard means of requesting dormitory maintenance or repair.

"We do have a very sophisticated work order system .a student from their desk can submit a work order, can track a work order," said Mike Black, director of Housing.

"We can do an immediate evaluation.We have a system in place," he added.

The department cited existing privacy policies that would have prevented discovery of the mold without a student report.

"Students are responsible for the living environment.We don't want to have to go in every day and check.We expect them to notify us by the email work order system or our call center," Black said.

Although the Department of Housing conducts periodic health and safety checks, current policy does not require residents' rooms to be inspected on a frequent basis.

According to Gillis, he first learned about the mold incident from the evening news report on WGNX.

"It has been growing for some time.in there for at least for two weeks of growth. It was nasty, from what I saw in the news," Gillis said.

Ultimately, the Department cleaned the affected rooms of mold soon after the report was aired. However, citing the significant amount of mold located in the room, Tech's environmental health office was dispatched to ascertain the potential toxicity of the mold.

After some investigation, Gillis concluded that moisture from the bathroom, combined with excessive heat and open windows in the affected dorm rooms, were contributing factors to the excess mold growth.

Preliminary results, however, indicate that the students were not exposed to any hazardous toxins.

Black has also stated that ".[health center personnel] have not seen any seen any rushes from Montag."

Gillis felt that the Department should have been given an opportunity to address the problem prior to contacting outside media.

"[Students] are free to use the news media, but if they are going to be fair.they need to give us a chance to solve the problem," he said.

Overall, Gillis felt that the work order system would have rectified the situation.

"The work order system is there for you to have a comfortable living environment.but you have to help us by telling us where there is fault in the system," he said.

Some Institute officials feel that the WGNX news report exaggerated the mold situation.

"The issue was sensationalized," said Institute Communications and Public Affairs Director Bob Harty. Harty was concerned that the news report may be providing misinformation to students and their parents.

"The only thing that bothers me a little bit is that I think it can give other students and certainly parents.a false sense of crisis where I don't think that one exists," he said.