There have been issues with mold in dorm room closets, vents and showers in Bray, Allen and Brock Village. Students have reported mold on their windows, vents, walls and in bathrooms. Students have also submitted work orders to maintenance and complaints to Residence Life.
Mold has been prevalent in housing on campus in the past. Last October, the Marlin Chronicle reported on a mold issue in Allen Village. Vice President of Student Affairs Keith Moore said he was aware of the mold problem and encourages all students to report mold. Maintenance will show up to assess the situation and act accordingly, whether that entails wiping down the mold with bleach, cleaning the vents or using a special mold killing paint primer.
Moore suggested that the mold may be a result of the rainy hurricane season. Although none of the hurricanes actually hit Virginia, the state has seen lots of residual rain. Moore goes on to say that any reports of mold will be dealt with urgently with maintenance on the scene within the day. However, it seems that some of these cases seemed to have been overlooked.
Freshmen Andrew Patterson and Tyler Jeu are roommates and residents of Bray Village, and have also experienced mold.
“We got into the room on move-in day and thought we saw mold, but the janitor said it was mildew. But the first couple of weeks of school, I, like, couldn’t breathe and I was sick,” said Jeu. Since then, however, he said that he “[hadn’t] noticed anything.”
Junior Jessica Lindsey lives in the Brock Village apartments with her four roommates. The mold was such a
problem on their entire floor that maintenance had to move the furniture outside of their buildings in order to clean out the spread of mold.
“It was on everything in the kitchen, like the fridge and the counters,” Lindsey said. “All of the air vents in the living and kitchen areas still have mold on them.”
Lindsey also aired her grievances with the school’s treatment of the mold situation. “I feel like with the amount of money we have to pay to attend school here the least the school could [do] is make sure it’s a healthy living space and some place students aren’t afraid to [stay in] because of a mold issues,” she said. “The fear of mold in the dorm rooms is a concern to many students because of the health factors. I really think the school should be doing more to fix the problem or find a solution since we are paying them to attend this school.”
Another case of mold comes from senior Alexis Coverton and junior Ashlee Spurlock who were roommates in Brock Village.
Coverton had a lot of property damage but her request to move out was denied. “They didn’t let me move out when the mold was on my clothes, walls and damaging my shoes nor did they move me into a temporary space. They just worked around my things. I had to pack most of them up, then after several calls and complaints and letters from both me and my mom they simply just painted over the mold,”Coverton said. “There’s still mold around the window seal but it wasn’t worth going back and forth with Res Life about it so I just deal with it,” she continued.
Spurlock was more successful with her attempt to leave. “Once I heard word about the mold on my hall I was immediately concerned. I’m very allergic [to mold] and after my attempts of cleaning it with bleach I gave up, and I wasn’t going to go through what my hall mate did. I moved out and there’s currently an empty bed on Teagle 201,” she said.
Tony Tann
tdtann@vwu.edu
