False Alarm; Mold Scare in Reed Unwarranted?

Recent reports from Reed Hall indicated that there may have been mold and an insect infestation problem in the dorm’s halls, which has served a point of outrage for some students currently housed in Reed. Following closer inspection from the Housing and Residential Life however, these fears were able to be put to rest in large part.
Seeing the vitriol with which students at Howard have been treated after bringing similar issues to light, the students who reached out to the Digest with initial photos of what they perceived to be mold have opted to remain anonymous. According to one source, however, this issue has been ongoing for months and with no response back from the university, they feel unheard regardless.
According to an anonymous resident in Reed Hall, her room and living space have been invaded by tiny insects and moldy air from their vents for the past 2 and a half months. The anonymous student stated that she reached out to the custodian for help towards the beginning of the semester on August 24, but upon arrival at the custodians’ prompting, maintenance left in short order after starting that they couldn’t act without a maintenance request form.
While the light bugs were an issue that’s still ongoing according to sources within Reed, it was the threat of mold that caused the most trepidation from the students in question. Upon closer inspection however, what was believed to be mold was simply condensation spots that appear on air conditioning units when hot and cold air from inside and outside the building come into contact with each other. According to Housing, while this does give off an appearance similar to mold, it is not and does not inherently pose a danger to the health of students and can be cleaned without harm to the students.
After continued appearances of what is now understood to be condensation spots however, there was still no correspondence from the maintenance department at Reed Hall, even after the young lady in question filed a maintenance request form out on October 14-15. RA’s in Reed were reached out to as well to no avail. The Reed resident received confirmation emails from Residential Life following her request form in October, but had still received no response to the issues that she has brought forth as of November 8, 2021.
In a later conversation with Residential Life officials and housing director Tracey Abrahams, it was noted that while the university does try to address all issues dealing with housing as efficiently and effectively as possible, the sheer number of students who live in the dorms does inhibit their efforts from time to time as far as paperwork is concerned.
“I wouldn’t run from a story [like this]. If there was mold, I’d have no issue addressing it, but that isn’t the case [in this current situation],” said Abraham in response to accusations of mold in Reed Hall.
“I have bronchitis, and I feel like [them not doing something about this] could put my life in danger,” said the source’s roommate, who also opted to stay anonymous. While the mold has since proven to be condensation spots instead of fungus as previously thought, the lack of communication from the university in the event that it was a genuine danger to the students living there could have been a danger to the student’s respiratory system.
While this miscommunication does happen on campuses that house so many, it’s in the best interest of all students who live in Reed to take issues relating to mold and infestations to reach out to the Housing Director, even after submitting paperwork. While this specific incident wasn’t as initially feared, communication between students and faculty at Southern needs to be better for the student living experience in the dorms to improve.

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