After having a drastic weather change over the past week, a large portion of Doane’s campus has been affected by seasonal allergies, however, this isn’t the only reason why students are sick right now. Some students have gotten sick from an unrelated, yet more serious way. Many students on campus have become more vocal about mold sightings in their dorm buildings, and how seemingly no action is being taken.
An anonymous student who lived in Hansen Leadership Hall last year was severely impacted by mold in their living space.
“I started to notice issues after coming back, after winter break. The first day after sleeping in my room, I woke up with a cough so uncontrollable, I was vomiting every day from coughing so hard, multiple times a day,” they said. They also said that the sickness started to affect their academics because all they could do was stay in their room and rest, the room that was making them sick. They took many different medications often, and the problem persisted. Then they developed asthma and long-term lung issues as a result, getting exhausted more often from simple things such as walking across campus.
“They told me they were going to test my room for mold, and I checked in multiple times about how that process was going, and never once got information back,” they said. Now that this individual is out of Hansen, their health has gotten progressively better, but the amount of mold they consumed still negatively affects them.
Another student who has been living in Hansen for the past 3 years has had mold issues as well.
“I used to get sick regularly, but it just got bumped up like 10 times since living in Hansen,” they said. They claim that it has gotten worse by year and has appeared in more places. They added that this kind of exposure cannot be good for the students living there, especially in the basement since the problem is the worst down there. They stated that students don’t deserve to be exposed to mold poisoning, especially with the amount of money they’re paying to go here.
Another anonymous student shared their experience and photos of their room. They kept reporting it, and maintenance would just spray the mold and paint over it every time until maintenance told them there was nothing they’d be able to do without tearing down walls. This student shared that their roommate suffered more effects from the mold, and the whole process was just inconvenient.
From what was shared, Hansen seems to be a breeding ground for mold, as the showers are attached to the rest of the suite with little to no ventilation. Although the issue seems to be the most severe in Hansen, students have reported seeing mold in the showers of other dorm buildings as well. Symptoms that interviewees shared were extreme exhaustion from things they have never been exhausted from before, violent coughing fits, nausea and getting sick more often. A common theme around the interviewees’ stories was that no serious action was taken until a third party (parent) called the school to make a complaint about their child being exposed to mold.
This kind of living environment is not only harmful to students and their health, but also to their academics. The student who developed long-term lung issues also suffered bad grades on things from the illness and exhaustion they experienced from the poisoning, something they have never experienced before as a straight-A student. These conditions could also potentially be most harmful to athletes, music students and any other involvements that have major lung use. A lot of students are also questioning ResLife’s concern on the matter. An anonymous student who has previously worked with ResLife stated that they tell their Community Advisors (CAs) to call mold “suspicious substance” instead of calling it what it is. This is allegedly done because if ResLife or a CA calls it mold, that means they actually have to address the issue and handle it as a serious instance.
