By Meghan Fitzgerald, Staff Writer
Upon inviting friends over to his dorm in the Netherlands, freshman Brendan Walles discovered that black mold covered the air-conditioning unit of his room.
“I never thought I would find mold in my dorm. I always envisioned it as a very clean place, especially when I first moved in,” Walles said.
The community of the University has found it extremely disturbing that mold is so prevalent on campus. In 2009, the Chronicle ran an article addressing mold in the dorm rooms of many buildings on campus, specifically Nassau, Republic and Alliance halls. But most recently, students have been complaining about mold infestations in the Netherlands as well.
Additionally, the yearbook office has suffered from leaks for years and the water damage has resulted in a headache.
“The yearbook office has had this leak since before I started at Hofstra almost four years ago,” said Co-Editor in Chief Svenja van den Woldenberg of Nexus Yearbook, a senior and Chronicle Staff Writer. “My freshman year we were banned from the yearbook office because black mold had grown from the leak over the summer. We’ve reported our leak to the plant, to OSLA, to SGA and the yearbook editor…Our leak has been painted over and fixed several times but about a month or two later it always returns with a vengeance.”
Students are not the only members of the Hofstra community affected by mold infestation. Dr. Himelfarb both teaches and has his office in Barnard Hall and has much to say about the state of Barnard.
“Barnard is the forgotten building on campus, and the mold is only one symptom of a generally bigger problem,” Himelfarb said.
Himelfarb recounted many times he has seen tour groups pass by his building, knowing Barnard is not worthy of showing off to current and future students.
“There is all this discussion about Hofstra being a “green” campus, so why don’t they focus on the great inefficiency of this building? Classrooms are swampy and humid, like a cross between a jungle and a locker room, and in the winter the heat cannot be adjusted, so many professors wind up opening windows,” the professor continued.
All in all, Dr. Himelfarb is disgusted at the state of Barnard Hall, built in 1939, and the problems the never-renovated building poses.
In response, Hofstra’s Vice President of Facilities and Operations, Joseph Barkwill, said, “Barnard is a building that has been talked about as part of a five-year plan. I wish we could just go in and renovate every building, but we really do try to respond and investigate the source of the problem.” Mr. Barkwill continued to say that complaints concerning mold in residential halls do get top priority, but that he will indeed investigate the problems in Barnard.
