Asbestos released into air as part of Rosengarten ceiling collapses

Part of Van Pelt Library will be closed until further notice due to the incident, which raised concerns about student health. Library officials announced yesterday that the Rosengarten Reserve Room will be closed until further notice due to a collapsed ceiling board which is believed to have spread asbestos fibers, a known carcinogen. The crash unearthed a large section of loose asbestos fibers, some of which landed on the floor along with the ceiling panel, according to Vice Provost and Director of Libraries Paul Mosher. Based on the state of the remaining asbestos in the ceiling, Occupational Safety Hazards Administration officials said the material may have entered the library air over the past few months. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, asbestos, which was identified as a "hazardous pollutant" in 1971, becomes dangerous only when damage to a building loosens the mineral into its fibrous form. In January, after another construction mishap sent pieces of plaster falling from the Rosengarten ceiling, OSHA Industrial Hygienist Roman Siletsky said the continuing library renovations could pose a risk. "If they're jackhammering on the second floor and you've got an asbestos-containing material [in the] ceiling, then sure, stuff is going to be flaking down," Siletsky said in January. Yesterday, Siletsky said preliminary tests indicated that hazardous asbestos had in fact been fallin into the library for an undetermined period of time. "We have a situation on our hands where we know for sure that a large chunk of asbestos-laden ceiling board did fall down," he said. "What we suspect, but are not completely sure, is that asbestos fibers from that area have been flaking into the air over a period of time." The only students who are at risk are those who have spent a significant amount of time -- more than 15 hours a week, according to Siletsky -- in Rosengarten in the area near the reserve stacks against the wall facing Walnut Street. These students are urged to contact Student Health Services Director Marjeanne Collins at 662-2865. The ceiling board, which measures approximately four by five feet, collapsed during early morning construction at 4 a.m. Monday. During the past few months of library renovations, workers have done the loudest construction in the wee hours of the morning in order not to distract students studying in the building. Mosher said he could not estimate how long Rosengarten will be closed, since the extent of the asbestos contamination has not yet been determined. A crew has been brought in to seal off the large hole in the ceiling and search for more loose asbestos. "If the crew finds a significant amount of contamination, the only option will be to blow up the library," Mosher said. Calling the building "extraordinarily unattractive," University President Judith Rodin said she supported blowing up the building and starting from scratch. Rodin said she will, if necessary, sell her son Alex into white slavery and lease her assistant Jennifer Baldino as a female escort in order to pay for a new building. Several students contacted last night by The Daily Pennsylvanian said they are nervous that their excellent study habits could lead to an untimely death. College junior Allison Rosen told the DP last night that she is suffering from symptoms such as a fever, lesions and a whooping cough --Eall of which, she believes, were caused by asbestos. But asbestos-related sicknesses were not the only injuries caused by the falling ceiling board. Two College seniors who were "studying anatomy" with each other in Rosengarten found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. John La Bombard and an unidentified female friend, who a source said moonlights at Hooters, were hit by the falling ceiling board at a very delicate point in their relationship. La Bombard said he was relieved that neither of them sustained serious injury. "I'm just glad it didn't hit my penis," he said.

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