Rebeca Piccardo and Camila Fernandez/FIUSM Staff
The Graham Center is undergoing roof repairs throughout the fall semester, after staff became aware that some areas were leaking water.
Areas like the Beacon office, the Student Government Association conference room, a second-floor bathroom and a few classrooms have experienced leaks since the summer.
Matt Atkins, a senior psychology major and student assistant at the SGA office, said that the GC staff acted very quickly to solve the leaks.
With the leaking problem resolved, what’s left to fix is the damage caused by them.
The leaks in the second-floor ladies’ bathroom near the GC pit caused a hole in the roof, which remains visible to students.
“If a first-time student sees this hole, it just doesn’t look good on the school,” said Samantha Rodriguez, a junior biology major. “Why can’t [the University] afford to fix it?”
According to Carlos Carrasco, director of Facility Business and Finance at GC, the University is funding repair projects, but bad weather has dragged on the repairs for nearly three months.
“Water is kind of tricky,” he said.
Also, Carrasco said that the hot sun causes cracks in the roof membrane. In addition, the heat mixed in with the colder night air generates constant movement activity in the concrete roof—causing damage over time.
The University also looked into their budgets so they can finish inspecting and repairing the roof.
The roof repairs will cost about $110,000 according to James Wassenaar, director of Facilities Planning and Operations.
He said the money is coming out of the Student Affairs reserves and the Facility Management maintenance dollars.
Wassenaar said he check with both facilities management and GC, who confirmed that about 70 percent of the Graham Center roof area has been inspected and repaired.
The University is counting on finishing the repairs when the rainy season ends.
“During the drier months we can do the actual repairing,” Wassenaar said.
-news@fiusm.com
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