By Lori Bredemeyer, Managing Editor
Sociology instructors opened their classroom doors in the Administration Building on Monday to find standing water, forcing classes to be canceled and the Sociology Department to modify schedules and find substitute rooms.
Rooms 100, 101, 102 and 103 and a storage room in the north wing of the Administration Building were affected by the water leak, said Dr. Bill Culp, chair of the Department of Sociology and Social Work. He said all classes that were to meet in those rooms did not convene, and staff in the president’s office had to move files out of the storage room.
“Two of our classrooms will be out of use, which may take as long as the rest of the week,” he said. “So the other two will only have limited use because of clean-up efforts.”
Kevin Watson, chief administrative services officer, said in an e-mail that he is currently searching for the source of the leak.
“It appears that this is ground water, and it is seeping through the wall somewhere,” he said. “We are working to locate where it is coming in. Once we have isolated the location, we will have to dig down and seal the crack in the wall.”
The water continues to leak into Rooms 100 and 103, and Watson said it probably will continue to come into the building as long as it keeps raining and until Physical Resources can find the source of the leak and seal it.
Bob Nevill, director of Physical Resources, said the dry weather probably concealed the crack.
“We do not know how the leak happened,” he said, “but the integrity of the wall could have been compromised for some time, and it has been dry enough that it was never revealed.”
Although no major damage has been done, Watson said the water has caused some minor damage to the walls and the paint, and Val Mascari, project manager for WFF, said his staff is working to dry out the wing.
“What we’re trying to do is minimize the amount of water that sets in the building to minimize what damage is being done,” he said. “This is a brand-new problem for everybody; we haven’t experienced this before, but that’s what happens with an old building.”
Culp said he is trying to find alternative classrooms until the leak is repaired, and the department hopes to miss only the one class period that was canceled on Monday.
“It’s made a little bit more urgent by the fact that most of our classes lost meetings because of the death of Dr. Charles Trevathan,” Culp said, “so our faculty is trying to rearrange things to fulfill the competencies in the syllabi.”
He said classes will be notified by e-mail and signs in the Administration Building about changes to location and curriculum.
