The SpringHillian
Vol 105 Issue 4
Thursday, November 9, 2017
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
MOLD: A Growing Concern SHC takes steps to resolve issue in the Fairway Apartments
Left: Mold on ceiling of Rubin 101 courtesy of Katy Rasp. Top Middle: Mold on baseboard of Rubin 103 courtesy of Thomas Moore. Bottom Middle: Moldy bathroom floor being replaced in Rubin 202 courtesy of Sam Beatty. Right: Shoe that became moldy after several weeks in Rubin 101 courtesy of Katy Rasp.
Katy Rasp | Reporter A recent outbreak of a household mold that is black in color in the Fairway Apartments has left many students feeling ill. Mold, not to be confused with mildew, has a list of serious health concerns associated with it, such as chronic coughing and sneezing, irritation to the eyes, rashes, chronic fatigue and persistent headaches. Several students have experienced these symptoms first hand and believe it to be a direct tie to the mold in their apartments. This is not the first time students have encountered this problem. Senior Maggie Nelson recalls it being an issue when she moved into her apartment in August. “Every morning I was waking up congested, and I couldn’t breathe. I started to just assume it was normal until I started to get painful blisters in my nose.” It was not until her mother, Kelly Nelson, came to town for parent’s weekend that any action was taken. “As a parent, it is concerning knowing that my child is having to deal with this. I was there for only two hours during family weekend and I was sneezing and had itchy eyes the entire time.” According to Kelly Nelson, she contacted Dr. Puto’s office to express
her concerns, and shortly after, she received a call from Residence Life. The next day, maintenance arrived at Nelson’s apartment to scrape the mold off the ceiling in the living room. The quality of the air was also checked; however, the results from this test are not available yet. Nelson said that before her mother came in town for family weekend, maintenance had not responded to any of their work orders regarding the mold. “It is frustrating for me because I’m an adult and I should be the one to handle this, not my parents who live 15 hours away. Maintenance has come to fix the smaller things when we put in a work order, but it took them so long from when we initially contacted them to remove the mold from our ceiling,” said Nelson. Rubin 101 is not the only apartment suffering from this mold outbreak. Article Continued on page 2...
Greenkeepers Initiate Action Against Litter
Alexa Shelton | Reporter
Trash build up has become a problem on campus, proving that new trash receptacles have not been as beneficial as originally planned. Litter around campus have students noticing animal problems. “We track needs for pest control through work orders, I’m in daily communication through residence life so I haven’t heard of anything regarding raccoons or litter,” Vice President of Campus Operations Joseph Snowden said. “They can reach out and feel perfectly open to send me an email or call me directly, and I can address it.” In 2014, approximately 258 million tons of waste were generated around the world, and 89 million tons
were composted. This generates a 34.6% recycling rate worldwide, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Recycling programs made their debut at SHC in the spring of 2016, with the addition of several colored bins outside of residence halls to help organize recyclables. Greenkeepers, an organization on campus dedicated to healthy living, implemented this program and has worked towards making several similar changes. “We got the caf to be a green space, so they recycle all of their resources. However, now they have plastic cups. The plastic cups can’t be recycled, we can only recycle ones and twos in Mobile, and those are fives. The lady that sorts it charges us, since these cups are considered trash it is getting really expensive,” said Greenkeepers president, Madeline Johnson.
The organization is involved in coastal and campus clean-ups. This semester, they also did a cigarette butt clean up. “We did a cigarette butt cleanup on campus and we cleaned up 5 huge garbage bags full of butts at the beginning of the semester, they are actually really harmful for the soil,” Johnson said. National Recycling Day is Nov. 15, and the Greenkeepers are gearing up to educate students about it. The organization will be serving color-coded cupcakes in the back of the cafeteria in an effort to educate students on what is recyclable and what each color represents. “The problem with that is you can bring a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. So you can put the recycling programs in place, but we can’t make the students recycle,” Johnson said.