Complaints of a microbial substance in the Hackman apartments on campus surfaced August 20, a week before the semester was due to start.
After Facilities met with an outside contractor the following day, all Hackman residents already on campus took part in a meeting to discuss the next steps in the process.
Students scheduled to move into their apartments were relocated to the Founders dorm building while the College started to resolve this problem.
According to the college website, the outside contractor, a Certified Industrial Hygenist (CIH) was brought on campus to help facilitate the treating of all rooms in Hackman August 23.
During this time, President Carl Strickwerda assembled a task force from senior staff members to address how the college handles work orders, determine what caused the microbial substance to grow and to look into improvements on the college’s current work order submission system.
This task force is also working out appropriate reimbursement for the affected students.
Additonally, they have overseen meetings with Facilities and Hackman residents to keep them up to date on the situation.
August 31, the CIH finished their treatment of the apartments and the students were moved back into Hackman.
Students were skeptical about the entire situation, especially since many residents felt that they were notified “last-minute” that they would be unable to move into their apartments.
“I found out about the issue from a friend as the apartment evacuation notice occurred around 6 p.m. on August 21. As someone who was moving in [the following] morning, I was not formally informed via email until a few hours later. This was stressful,” junior Hannah Paymer stated in an email interview.
Paymer also said that while she understood that the students already on campus were a priority, she wished that she had been contacted earlier to avoid the confusion caused by finding out about the situation from her friend.
Rumors had been circulating that the microbial substance in the apartments did not suddenly develop over the summer and that it had been an issue prior to the first work order that was submitted August 20.
However, residents of the apartments were happy to hear that the college had come up with a solution so quickly.
“After the [August 22] meeting, I was relieved to hear that they had a comprehensive plan laid out and stuck very close to it. The project took less [time] than the anticipated 2 weeks to complete, and I appreciated the help that was provided by the college on the Friday date of move in,” Paymer stated.
Other residents were concerned that communications between the college and the residents, as well as between the college and the entire campus, would not be clear.
According to Paymer, prior to the first meeting on August 20, the information that the college sent out was “fuzzy” and that they had only contacted the students already on campus.
However, as of August 24, the Residence Life page of Etown’s website began posting updates about the timeline, causes, and other general information about the treatment of the microbial substance. They also provided a link to the report that was filed by the High Environmental Service.
“The administration has been very transparent on this process starting at the August 22 mold meeting,” Paymer said.
Even after the treatment process, students were wary that the microbial substance would grow again, since this summer has been the wettest Lancaster County has seen in a long time, according to the college’s website.
However, the College’s aggressive approach to the issue has taken care of all microbial substances in Hackman.
“It might be an issue if someone doesn’t keep up with the dehumidifier in their apartment. The college is planning on doing work on the air conditioning system in the apartments over the summer, and I believe that will make a big difference in any future mold issues…” Paymer said.
“I hope that the college uses what they learned from the apartments to create preventative measures that apply to other dorms and campus buildings in the future.”
