Engineering freshman Gabriel Frydman and College freshman Connor Hsu were only in their Quad dorm room for six days before they were forced to relocate for the second time in one month. This time, their dorm room was filled with mold.
On Sept. 28, Frydman and Hsu moved from their dorm in Coxe in Ware College House to Harrison College House after they found mold growth in their dorm.
On Sept. 12, just 16 days earlier, the roommates were forced out after their ceiling caved in, causing plaster and drywall to cover all of their belongings. They were relocated to Sansom Place East and lived there until Sept. 22 while the hole in their ceiling was repaired.
Before fall break, Facilities and Real Estate Services spokesperson Heidi Wunder said 22 Quad rooms reported to have water damage and mold, which has been causing some students to become ill. All reported cases of mold have been confined to the Quad, said Executive Director for Business Services Douglas Berger, who oversees Residential Services.
He said because the Quad is a historic building, it poses particular challenges in hot and humid weather conditions that Philadelphia has recently experienced.
Many of these affected students have been temporarily relocated to other dorms or nearby hotels.
“[We] had this mold thing, and it just got worse and worse until Thursday or Wednesday, when it was terrible,” Frydman said, a few days after the situation became unbearable. “The area next to where [the ceiling] fell, that whole wall was just covered in mold.”
Mold was found in Gabriel Frydman and Connor Hsu's quad room 16 days after their ceiling collapsed. (Photo from Connor Hsu)
The students said they were contacted on Sept. 28 by Ware’s building manager, Marc-Anthony Serrano, who informed them that a mold abatement contractor had visited their room and that a masonry contractor would come on Monday to repair the brick on the outside of their room, where the leak causing the mold was allegedly located.
That same day, the pair was relocated to a high rise apartment. They were able to return to their dorm room on Oct. 7.
By Tuesday, the students had been contacted by Special Project Coordinator Jeremy Estrada, who informed them that he, along with Serrano, would be assessing and coordinating the repairs to the room. On Oct. 6, the students had not heard any update on when they would be able to return to their dorms, but were informed the following day they could return.
The Daily Pennsylvanian reached out to Serrano for comment, who forwarded the request to Business Services Division spokesperson Barbara Lea-Kruger, who forwarded it to Wunder. Wunder did not respond to our request for comment from FRES.
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