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QUCHRONICLE.COM
SEPTEMBER 23, 2015
VOLUME 86, ISSUE 4 DESIGN BY KRISTEN RIELLO
UNSAFE HOUSING Seniors find mold, broken appliances in Whitney Village By ADELIA COUSER Associate News Editor
When senior Rebecca Castagna moved into Whitney Village on Aug. 16, the last thing she expected to find was mold. Whitney Village is an off-campus housing option for seniors. Located on Whitney Avenue, it is comprised of eight buildings with a total of 50 air-conditioned apartments. “We walked down the stairs and you could tell that something wasn’t right,” Castagna said. “We went in the room and there was an overwhelming scent—it was stuffy and musty and you could tell that there was mold.” Thinking that the smell may have been the result of the room’s vacancy during the summer, Castagna and her parents began moving in her belongings. During this process they discovered the room’s dehumidifier and stovetop were broken. “When I put in the work order, I said that I had asthma and [the dehumidifier] needed to be fixed,” Castagna said. “We went out and bought a $200 dehumidifier just so I could breathe that night, but I could tell that
my parents were very upset about leaving me there alone.” Over the next 12 hours, Castagna discovered large spots of black mold in a bathroom drawer and under the carpet. She texted pictures of the growth to her roommate’s mother, who showed them to a professional cleaner to confirm that it was mold. Living in a mold-infested area can cause a variety of negative health effects, including nasal and sinus congestion, headache, respiratory problems such as wheezing and irritation of the eyes, throat and skin, according to the New York State Department of Health. These effects are intensified for people with asthma such as Castagna. “I was horrified,” Castagna said. “I don’t know if [Quinnipiac] cleans the rooms or what they do there, but there’s no way someone walked into the room I was in and thought ‘this is livable’ and thought seniors—or people in general—should be living here.” Castagna moved out of the room immediately after the discovery. But her story is one of many; several seniors decided to move out of Whitney Village this year after
finding unsatisfactory living conditions. Senior Tanner Harding originally planned to live with Castagna and another senior, but their roommate trio was split up once they learned of the mold growth. “I’ve always thought of Quinnipiac as a school that wanted to take care of its students and give them the best, but after the Whitney Village fiasco and how it was handled, that clearly is not the case,” Harding, who now lives on York Hill, said. “It was really disappointing to me to be treated this way, especially with how much money we pay for room and board.” The cost of living in Whitney Village is $7,500 a semester. Each apartment contains one, two or three bedrooms in addition to a living room, kitchen and bathroom. Residents do not receive a meal plan, but have access to wireless Internet, cable television and laundry facilities. Associate Vice President for Facilities Operations Keith Woodward said there were two spaces in Whitney Village with “low levels of mold” before students came back to campus. One was in a bathroom drawer, caused by a leaking sink. The other was on
some furniture, caused by a dehumidifier and an air conditioner that shut off. These areas were cleaned, he said. Senior Brynn Kelly was scheduled to move in on Aug. 21, but moved out in less than an hour after smelling mold and discovering a missing shower head, crusted substances on the bathtub, outdated appliances and a closet that appeared to be patched up with random pieces of wood. “My mom and I were walking around, we were looking at this place and we just thought something was up,” Kelly said. “You walked in and you got this whiff of mold—it did not smell right. It’s just so dark and dank down there...My mom’s not one to complain, but we walked out and said, ‘I just can’t live in here.’” Like Castagna, Kelly was shocked that university officials thought that Whitney Village would provide adequate housing for seniors. “They told me that they checked everything out; they said ‘We just went through all the apartments and they all look fine,’” See MOLD Page 5
University adds shuttle to North Haven campus
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make her pay. It’s only 20 minutes away, so I really think that’s a great idea.” But senior Jennifer Vonick said the shuttle schedule does not work for her. “I probably won’t use it because my class is 7-10 p.m. Thursday nights,” she said. “If I was a sophomore it would be useful. I didn’t have my car sophomore year so I think it would be nice.” Originally, if students had class on North Haven, they were required to have a car or
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Starting on Monday, students will be able to take a shuttle to the North Haven campus from Mount Carmel and York Hill.
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Health Science, nursing and education students will be able to take a shuttle to the North Haven campus starting Monday, according to Chief of Public Safety Edgar Rodriguez. The shuttle will run from York Hill, to Mount Carmel, to the North Haven campus from 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. This service will be separate from the shuttle that goes to the North Haven shopping areas. This change is something the university has been discussing for the past couple years, Rodriguez said. Now that more sophomores are taking classes on the North Haven campus, he said it is the time for the university to add the shuttle. “It used to be juniors and seniors only [going to North Haven],” he said. “I think we got to the point where we have some sophomores and some of the international students that are going down this way...We think it’s a great opportunity to provide the shuttles and I’d rather have them get on the shuttle than drive their vehicle, especially when the weather gets worse.” This change will not affect the number of shuttles running from York Hill to Mount Carmel, Rodriguez said. “We’re not taking away anything we have now. This is an extra shuttle that’s being added for this purpose,” he said. Senior physical therapy major Erica Peters has one class on the North Haven campus. She said she is glad about the change. “I think that would be so helpful especially since I have to drive someone every week and she doesn’t have a car,” she said. “And so I’m making her pay but I feel really bad because she’s my friend and I don’t want to have to
carpool with their classmates to the campus that is the home for the School of Health Sciences, School of Education, School of Law and School of Nursing. The university has not provided a shuttle in the past because it was mainly juniors, seniors and graduate students who had to go to the campus, Rodriguez said. “We had a lot of seniors at the beginning that were going down to North Haven,” he said. “And for example, nursing [students]...after that they had to do their clinicals. Some of the
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teaching students had to go to schools and do their practicals and stuff like that so at that point you almost kind of needed a car.” . But as university officials looked at the number of people going to the North Haven campus within the first month of classes this academic year, they decided to provide this service, Rodriguez said. “We didn’t have the demand several years ago, but I think that has changed in the last couple years,” he said. “I think the university is very proactive so I think this is great great news for our students who are taking classes at North Haven.” Rodriguez said when the service first begins the university will likely run a smaller shuttle, but if demand increases Public Safety can replace it with one of the larger shuttles. He said hopefully many students will take advantage of the shuttle on Monday. Students who do not attend class on the North Haven campus also seem glad for their classmates about the new resources. “It’s a great idea because not every health science student has a way of getting to north haven, so with Quinnipiac now offering shuttle services to north haven, it makes it a lot easier for kids to get to and back from campus,” senior Ryan Sessa said. Freshman Rachel Hickey, a physical therapy major, said she is happy she will be able to take a shuttle to North Haven when she has classes there. “That’s awesome. I don’t need a car now,” she said. “And my car is a little clown car so I would be nervous because my car is prone to breaking down. I think it’d be good to have the shuttle.”
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