Brooks Hall has been facing an array of issues affecting campus life. Students and faculty last week reported a sewage smell filling the stairwells of the building.
According to Director of Facilities Management Mark Fuller, a service call last week prompted an investigation into seeing what the smell was.
“Upon further investigation we found that the main sanitary sewer line just outside on the south side of the building was backed up in the manhole,” Fuller said. “The cause of the backup was tree roots and a misaligned joint in the sewer line.”
Fuller said that the line is currently flowing correctly but more work will have to be done in the future.
The building has been through minor renovations in the past, as some classrooms have been modernized whilst some old outdated rooms still exist.
It was reported last week that classes were having to move from a classroom in Brooks due to extremely high temperatures.
“I think we can all agree that the summer weather was much hotter and lingered longer than most in the past,” Fuller said. “Due to this fact the number of calls our HVAC department received increased dramatically more so than usual at the beginning of the semester and has continued to tax our personnel and our aging equipment.”
According to Fuller, the decision was made to temporarily change classrooms due to the extended time it would take to fix the space.
“Currently, all spaces are operating normally,” Fuller said.
Facilities management responded to nearly 20,000 work orders last academic year.
“Some issues take a more thorough investigation taking, in some instances, and an extended period of time and unfortunately a disruption to the routines of students, faculty, and staff,” Fuller said.
Although facilities seems confident that all spaces are functioning properly, students and faculty reported this week the same classroom once again emitting high temperatures. For now, students anxiously await for the cool temperatures of fall to arrive.
