Smith Hall floods on first day of classes pushing students to temporarily move to Frees.
Smith Hall flooded almost two weeks ago on Jan. 17, and residents were quickly evacuated into the other dormitories on campus, leaving Smith in a state of needing repair. It was not all misfortune, as the residents of Frees Hall moved out a day before.
“There were a few challenges that day. We just had students leave Frees so the rooms were not turned over yet. We tried our best to make sure we had staff over in Frees cleaning rooms that needed it the most. We also provided toiletry products for students in case they forgot. We had to shut off access to Smith so the Ser Pro team could make sure to get out all of the moisture,” Director of Residential Life and Education (Res Life) Brian Stutz said, when asked about some of the challenges that the faculty staff had with this flooding.
Smith Hall should be open again soon.
“We are hoping by next week they will be back in Smith but just need to hear back from facilities about when we can do that,” Stutz said.
Stutz is overall appreciative to all those who put in many hours addressing the problem.
“I want to give a special shout out to Scott Sieck who has been dealing with this from the start and has put many hours in to try and make sure this problem is addressed,” Stutz said.
There were also reports of Doane Housing moving people out of their rooms in Sheldon to make room for the residents of Smith.
All of this is still temporary, as the facilities and Ser Pro team work tirelessly to fix Smith Hall so that the residents can move back there in a timely manner.
