By Fiona Morgan, News Editor
Sophomore Katy Richardson began last semester living in the basement of Kresge, where she noticed mildew growth in her room mid-September. “I noticed there was that [green powdery] stuff on our air conditioner and ceiling, but I didn’t realize what it was; I didn’t think about it,” she said.
“But one day, my roommate and I came back, and we looked in our closet, and there was green powdery stuff all over our clothes, all over our shoes and everything,” said Richardson. “And then we looked in, and it was all over the side of our closet, too.” She noticed the same substance underneath her bed and on the ceiling tiles and the air conditioning (HVAC) unit.
She immediately emailed Kresge Resident Director Kim Levengood with pictures of the situation, and someone from physical plant came to investigate shortly after. According to Richardson, the physical plant worker told her that the substance was mildew, but physical plant did not test the substance to confirm that analysis. The worker cleaned the HVAC unit and gave Richardson a disinfectant spray and, later, a dehumidifier.
“We ourselves had to clean the closet and bed,” Richardson said. “We sprayed down the ceiling and under the beds, too. But then not even a week or so later, it just started growing back underneath our beds. So then since it came back, we got a dehumidifier, but it didn’t really work because you had to always unplug and replug it in, and it’d work for like two minutes, and you’d constantly have to do that in order for it to work.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, CDC.gov, “Some people are sensitive to molds. For these people, molds can cause nasal stuffiness, throat irritation, coughing or wheezing, eye irritation, or, in some cases, skin irritation. People with mold allergies may have more severe reactions.”
Richardson, who is allergic to mold, lived in Kresge first west the previous school year where she said her allergies were worse than they were at home but reported that her symptoms became even worse after moving to the basement.
“I had issues even on first west, but I didn’t realize that [mold/mildew] was the issue,” said Richardson. “I already had pre-existing chronic sinus infections, but the mildew made it worse. I didn’t put two and two together last year, but being in the basement where I could physically see [the mildew], I knew that’s why I couldn’t breathe.”
In late October, she moved out of the basement into second mid and reported that her allergies were slightly better. “I was on three weeks of antibiotics because of my chronic sinus infections,” she said. “It wouldn’t go away; even on the antibiotics, I still couldn’t breathe. It’s helped going to the second floor, but it’s still an issue.”
It’s unclear if Richardson’s symptoms were directly related to mold in Kresge.
Numerous HVAC units in Kresge stopped working during August and September 2018. Each hall keeps a running maintenance list that is then submitted for physical plant to address. In the second mid hall alone, residents reported seven different HVAC units not working on the hall maintenance list from August to October.
At the beginning of the fall semester, second mid consisted of eight occupied rooms and eight unoccupied rooms. By the middle of October, five of the unoccupied rooms also had HVAC units either not working or physical plant had removed them for repairs, according to Eric McMillion, director of physical plant. Residential life is required to do monthly fire safety inspections of unoccupied rooms. Between October and November, when the rooms were not visited, significant mold/mildew grew on the carpet and wood furniture.
“This situation was brought to our attention [Nov. 30] after residential life inspected some unoccupied rooms,” said McMillion. “Because the rooms were not being heated or cooled properly, the combination of high humidity, no air circulation and darkness provided an environment that supported the mold/mildew growth on spots on carpet and the furniture.”
Physical plant workers responded to the issue the next day. “The five rooms on second mid have been sealed off and treated with a hospital-grade antimicrobial aerosol fogger as an initial treatment,” McMillion said on Dec. 5. “We will allow the rooms to dry out and then plan to replace the carpet.” Physical plant replaced the carpet and cleaned the furniture over Christmas break.
Students have also reported seeing what looks like mold on ceiling tiles around the dorm, inside vents in the halls and in bathrooms.
“A work order summary report was run with the search for the words mold/mildew in the description,” McMillion said. “The report showed 11 instances in Kresge this semester [fall 2018]. The second floor makes up about half of these work orders. The balance is distributed between the basement and first floor. After our staff investigated these, mold/mildew was only found in three bathrooms, one lobby and in the unoccupied rooms in second mid. The balance of these findings were dust accumulation on ceiling tiles, or no issues were found.”
McMillion continued, “These isolated incidents of mold/mildew do not generally necessitate testing. We did however conduct some sampling prior to clean-up efforts.” Physical plant workers took samples from vents and room carpets in Kresge and gave them to an indoor air quality firm, which sent them to a lab.
“The testing protocol samples for 21 types of mold, only one species was found,” McMillion said. “This sample was of the type that is commonly found in most all outside air.”
One student, named Emma, had more serious health issues while living in Kresge for the first time in fall 2018. Several weeks after moving onto second east, she began experiencing odd symptoms.
“I broke out in hives all over my body for no reason,” she said. “I was coughing so hard and so often that I literally popped two ribs out of place.” She also mentioned having a sore, dry throat, itchy red eyes and frequent exhaustion.
“Many black molds are toxigenic, meaning that they release toxins (called mycotoxins) that can be irritating or even harmful for people who have preexisting conditions,” according to healthline.com. “High concentrations of mycotoxins may cause mold poisoning even in healthy individuals depending on the concentration of mycotoxins, the amount of time exposed and other variables. Mycotoxicosis, or mold poisoning, can affect the upper respiratory system with symptoms like those of a cold or flu.”
“I had all of the symptoms of black mold poisoning, except for the wheezing. And now that I go back and think about it, it only got worse when I was in my room or in Kresge,” Emma said.
After experiencing these symptoms, Emma searched her room and the second floor of Kresge for signs of mold or mildew. “I hadn’t really noticed it until I was in the [second east] kitchen, and I was looking up at the ceiling, and there was a ceiling tile that was covered in black stuff,” she said.
She also noticed what looked like black mold on and inside air vents in the halls on the second floor. “On all of the air vents, there was mold on the outside, and I stuck my phone up and took a picture of the inside; that was disgusting. Then I started looking in my room and noticed there was some on the ground over in the corner. And then there was some in the bathroom.”
Emma reported the mold to her RA and received a dehumidifier from physical plant. She said she visited the Asbury clinic three times but was told she probably had a virus.
Toward the end of September, Emma sought help from her mother. “When my mom found out, she was not happy at all,” she said. “My mom is an emergency room nurse, and she actually came to the school without me knowing and went straight to the [Asbury] president’s office.” Emma’s mother worked with Associate Dean of Residence Life Joe Bruner to find her a new place to live, and they moved her out of Kresge that day.
While Emma has not been diagnosed with mycotoxicosis, she knew to keep an eye out for mold in Kresge because her sister had similar symptoms while living in there in 2011.
“My sister went to school here, and her freshman year, we had to move her out of Kresge for the same reason, and that was seven years ago,” she said. “She was living in the basement at the time, and we couldn’t exactly figure out what was wrong with her. Then my mom went down there, and she moved the door to her dresser that had been open for a really long time, and the back of it was just covered in mold.”
Since Emma moved out of Kresge, workers have replaced the black ceiling tile in second east’s kitchen and cleaned the outside of air vents on the second floor. However, as of Feb. 19, the inside of those vents still contained black fuzzy material growing in clumps.
“Three days after moving out, I stopped coughing, stopped itching and all that fun stuff,” said Emma. “But just [since the beginning of December] have my ribs quit hurting. I used to not be able to breathe — couldn’t laugh, couldn’t move — I couldn’t do anything without excruciating pain. I’ve been having to go to the chiropractor’s for months.”
No direct link has been officially established between mold findings in Kresge and residents’ symptoms.
Bruner explained that Asbury deals with issues related to mold on a case by case basis. “Since I’ve been here, which has been 10 years, any kind of issue we’ve had of testing it, it’s always tested as stuff that’s not dangerous,” he said. “We want to provide a great environment for our students, and that’s why we’re constantly trying to keep up our facilities, monitor them, and if a situation comes up, we’ll try to address it as soon as we can.”
“Our focus is on controlling humidity levels and removing any wet or previously water damaged building materials,” said McMillion. “We recently surveyed several areas in Kresge, and they were all below 35 percent relative humidity, which is an optimal level to combat mold/mildew growth.”
Bruner mentioned a possible change-out of the entire HVAC system in Kresge. He hopes to find a system that would control air in the whole building instead of having individual room units.
“Every summer, we spend anywhere from $450,000 to $850,000 on our residence halls to just continue to keep them refreshed, like the lobby in Kresge for example,” said Bruner. “We want to make the rest of Kresge look very similar to that.”
Asbury is not the only college dealing with mold issues in dorms. The Lexington Herald Leader reported that mold was discovered in buildings at Western Kentucky University (WKU), University of Louisville, Morehead State University and Eastern Kentucky University. In mid-November 2018, 348 students relocated from Minton Hall dormitory at WKU after administration found mold in the building.
Bruner urges students to report anything that looks like mold or mildew to their RAs. “If you see something, we’ve got to let our facility services know so they can come address the situation,” he said.