Good Morning -
I hope this message finds you well and looking forward to the upcoming breaks!
Residence Life and Housing is dedicated to fostering secure, comfortable, inclusive, and engaging learning communities. As such, student wellbeing is of the highest importance to each of us and our many campus partners. We recognize that some have voiced concerns about the potential for mold in some of our first-year residence halls. The University’s senior leadership has been briefed on these matters and I want to emphasize the seriousness with which we take them.
Our office continues to work closely with the experts in Facilities and Campus Services as well as Environmental Health and Safety to ensure that we are responding accordingly. Recently, we invited the Forsyth County Office of Environmental Assistance and Protection to review our mold management plan and inspect rooms in Johnson Hall. The county’s Inspector found no evidence of a systemic mold growth problem in Johnson Hall and found only small concentrated mold growth. He did note that the placement of beds or curtains in some rooms could obstruct the airflow around the heating and cooling units, and should be corrected. Our team is actively engaged in educating residents on best practices for preventing mold growth and working regularly with our partners in Facilities and Campus Services on regular inspections of rooms and correcting any issues promptly.
In addition to our regular efforts, the University has engaged an external Industrial Hygienist with professional expertise in assessing and remediating indoor air quality to assess our South Campus residence halls out of an abundance of caution.
This work will begin in Bostwick and Johnson halls over the Thanksgiving Break (Nov. 25-27) and then conclude in the other South Campus halls at the beginning of Winter Break (Dec. 16-20). You do not need to be present during these assessments. All student rooms will be inspected and University staff will be present during each inspection. Please ensure that:
- You relocate any loose items from your floor, so that staff may easily move about your room.
- If staff are unable to easily move about your room, the room may not get inspected.
- Your fan coil unit can be easily accessed; please move beds, curtains, etc. as needed.
- You take your room keys with you. All rooms will be locked after inspection.
Any mold found during the inspection will be immediately cleaned. You will be notified by email if your room requires additional work and/or follow-up.
Additionally, please be sure to follow all break instructions outlined by your community staff. Details on our break expectations can be found at
go.wfu.edu/rlhbreaks
. If you have questions about this process or want additional information on our mold and mildew prevention efforts, please visit
go.wfu.edu/rlhmold
.
If you have any additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us at
housing@wfu.edu
or 336-758-5185 and a member of our team will be glad to assist you.
Best -
Matt Clifford, EdD
Assistant Vice President of Campus Life
and Dean of Residence Life and Housing
