Mold Found In Various Buildings At MMC

This sign was placed on a door to a lab in the Chemistry and Physics building at MMC. Photo by: Valentina Palm/PantherNOW.

By: Valentina Palm / Asst. News Director

 

Rooms and laboratories are infested with mold in several Modesto Maidique Campus buildings – however, renovations won’t start until summer 2020.

The Owan Ehan, Chemistry and Physics and Viernes House buildings contain mold according to Provost Kenneth Furton on Tues. Sept. 10, in a faculty senate meeting.

Because so many students need to take classes in these labs, the contaminated rooms are still being used by faculty and students according to the university’s Chief of Academic Administration,  Howard Holness.  

“The problem is we don’t have enough labs to switch everyone up,” said Holness. “We have thousands of students who are biology majors or just pre-med majors who need those labs. We can’t delay those students semester by semester just because they’re not available.”

Classrooms and laboratories have been closed-off with plastic-sealed walls and air vents to prevent the mold from spreading.

“Some faculty members, like Dr. Furton, are purchasing masks for their students to wear because you don’t really have a choice, ” said Holness.

 Mold covered roof tiles and wood cabinets were found in the Owa Ehan building during last spring semester, according to Holness. In July, Provost Furton’s students reported there was mold inside the wood cabinets of the Chemistry and Physics laboratories, the building next to Owan Ehan.

Walls, vents and cabinets in contaminated rooms are sealed as a temporary fix to keep the mold from spreading and affecting students and faculty. 

Structural renovations such as installing digital air-conditioning units, replacing the labs’ boiler air vents and adjusting the buildings’ pressure are scheduled for summer 2020.

Laboratories’ walls are covered in plastic.

 “We had to repair the ceiling tiles several times,” said Holness. “They’re basically like Band Aid repairs, because to do the big fix, we have to wait until the summer.”

 According to Holness, lectures had to be moved to other rooms because of how severe the mold infestation is in several laboratories.

 Some rooms in the Chemistry and Physics tested positive for mold and the university’s Environmental Health and Safety department are still testing more than 55 laboratories in the building to see if they’re affected.

Students doing research spend several hours inside the laboratories. Even though the plastic seal limits their exposure to the mold, students are still given masks just in case.

“It’s debatable to see the masks work or not,” said Holness “But you know, Health and Safety regulations say that it’s better than nothing.”

 

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