Claims of dangerous mold growth in Southeast residence halls disproved

After claims of dangerous mold being present at Southeast Missouri State University, tests were done to prove there is not a mold problem on campus, or in the Alpha Chi Omega House, according to safety specialist in Facilities Management Autumn Gentry.

''Mold is everywhere,'' Gentry said. "It's inside, it's outside. Unfortunately where we live, we do have high mold counts. You'd be surprised how different it is from St. Louis. We get a lot of St. Louis students that come down and then they have allergies and then their like 'I've never had allergies in St. Louis,' but we're different. What happens with a report is if somebody complains of there being mold in their room or them being sick [there is a difference between the two], or 'I see mold on my air conditioner versus 'I'm sick with mold,' there's a little bit different process. We have to get the work order first. So somebody actually has to report it to someone to put up a work order. Then, if it's something simple like mold on ceiling or something we can visually look at, we go over and access if we actually see mold."

There are dozens of different types of mold. The biggest mold threat is called Stachybotrys mold, and according to Gentry's fungal laboratory report samples that were sent off to a third-party lab, Springfield Mold Consultants, it showed the campus is free of it.

"We had one case recently where someone called in claiming mold, and it was just a spill on the carpet, no mold," Gentry said. "Once people throw that word [mold] out it comes straight to me. Our custodians are trained and can clean up everyday stuff you see, like gunk in showers and in the common rooms. When they claim to be sick, what we look at is the student. When they say it we have them fill out a questionnaire to try and get what's going on and see if it's really mold or something else, because it's happened before. When we go to an area and see no mold, the only way for us to see is to do an air quality sample."

In the case of the Alpha Chi Omega house, Gentry said there was a problem last year in the house that was immediately brought to their attention and fixed. Air quality reports show that the house is still clean from mold except for one area by the kitchen trash can, which Gentry said is completely normal. The latest report was taken Sept. 4 and it shows no mold threat. In the event that students were to become sick from a mold issue on campus, the university's insurance covers it.

"What students don't realize is their personal belongings are not covered with the university's insurance. If someone were to get hurt or sick because of something like a pot hole on the sidewalk, then yes, the insurance should cover it," Gentry said. "Sometimes students do not realize what they are seeing. A few years back, there were photos floating around on Facebook that a student put on there complaining that the insulation was black and green from mold, when in reality that was literally the color the insulation came as."

Assistant Director of Facilities and Operations Kim Fees agreed with Gentry on the alleged mold problem.

"From my perspective, no, there is not a mold problem on the campus or in the dorms," Fees said. "I did hear of the case [Alpha Chi Omega house] at the beginning of the year and thus, we had it tested and we worked through facilities management and we had some samples taken where we sent them off to a third-party vendor, which they analyzed those sample, and those samples came back and said that the spore counts of whatever is outside of the house than on the inside, and when that happens, that says we don't have a mold issue in that building. We did not just test her [student] room, we checked the hallways, all three floors."

Fees said if a student thinks there is mold, make sure a work order is submitted so it can be researched. According to Gentry, mold claims are at the top of her priorities and she handles them personally.