Mold in Powell Hall to be taken care of during winter break

Faculty members discovered a mild case of mold in Powell Hall about two weeks ago, but Nicholls administration devised a plan to solve the issue during the winter break.

“The mold has not been cleaned yet. The people looking at it didn’t think there was an urgent need to get it cleaned right away, because in this case, it isn’t a big health risk to anyone being exposed. We have elected to defer this work until mid-December once everyone has finished for the semester,” Terry Braud, vice president of finance and administration, said.

This particular case of mold is manageable because it is in a controlled environment of the West wing of Powell Hall’s first floor. Braud ensured that different measures would have been taken if this was not the case and the fungus posed a serious threat.

He further explained that it should only take a week to complete the cleaning process.
While the week of Thanksgiving would have been optimal for the procedure to take place, the third party contractor is not available.

Braud explained that the foreseen cleaning efforts would be relatively inexpensive.
“Fortunately, part of the services will be performed by our grounds and maintenance staff,” Braud said. “Then the other part of the procedure will involve the third party. Their scope of work will fit inside the maintenance allowance that we have in our budget so it’s not going to put any pressure on our budget.”

Mold is a natural occurrence that accumulates in hot moist environments. Braud explained that Nicholls administration has dealt with mold issues periodically through the years, so they followed the same procedure in resolving the accumulations.

“Our standard procedure at this point is to involve Safety Environmental personnel,” Braud said. “They go in and do some initial air quality testing, send those samples off for testing and we get the results. Then we react.”

Stan Silverii, superintendent of facility services and project management, added that air samplings are conducted to figure out if mold is present and if so, what type of mold.

“At times during the year when the pollen count outside is extremely high, some of that pollen along with fresh air is being drawn into the building from students walking in and out,” Silverii said. “Because of this, people might experience minor symptoms of a cold in the building. During these times, we want to test and make sure that it is just pollen, so we test the air quality in the building and outside. If the results are balanced equal numbers, then we know that it’s just a transfer of the pollen coming inside.”

Faculty members initially noticed the mold accumulating on their books and described it as looking like a film of dust.

Students who have classes in Powell Hall were not notified about the mold situation, but Stephanie Verdin, director of university marketing and communications, explained that faculty and administration were offered to temporarily relocate offices in order to keep students out of the contaminated areas. Three professors chose to be placed in different offices.

Some faculty members believe they might have been affected by the mold, but Braud said that it is difficult to decipher that notion due to the many factors that can contribute to one’s health conditions.

“We are trying to balance the needs of the students and faculty while trying to coordinate these cleanup efforts,” Braud said.