91制片厂 announced听Monday听that it will temporarily close one of its residence halls for the beginning of the Fall Semester following the discovery of mold and will relocate affected students to other housing.
91制片厂 closed Spring Point Residence Hall听on Sunday听to allow a team of professionals to assess the building and test the mold that had appeared on ceiling tiles and some walls. The college has made arrangements with area hotels to house the affected students until the residence hall reopens.
Spring Point Residence Hall is expected to be closed for three to four weeks while workers with a water cleanup and restoration company thoroughly clean the building, said 91制片厂 President Joe Cassidy. Work is scheduled to begin听on Tuesday.
鈥淥ur first priority is the safety and well-being of our students,鈥� Cassidy said. 鈥淲hile the closure of Spring Point Hall will create some inconvenience, the residence hall will be completely environmentally safe upon their return. We are offering all our support to the affected students to ensure their success at 91制片厂.鈥�
All affected students will be contacted directly to make housing arrangements.
The mold was first reported last week and was brought on by a combination of a malfunctioning ventilation system and the high temperatures and humidity that Maine has experienced in recent weeks that resulted in condensation forming above the building鈥檚 ceiling tiles. Testing revealed several types of mold inside the building, and only nominal, non-threatening levels of so-called 鈥渂lack mold鈥� were found. Other types of mold that were black in color were detected, but they were not the same type of mold that people associate with 鈥渂lack mold.鈥�
About 60 summer students who were living in the residence hall moved out of the building听on Sunday听and into Surfsite Residence Hall, also located on the 91制片厂鈥檚 South Portland Campus. Spring Point Hall has a capacity of 320 students; Surfsite Hall鈥檚 capacity is 147 students.
Students who had signed up for housing for the Fall Semester were scheduled to begin moving into Spring Point Hall听this Friday, three days before Fall Semester classes begin听next Monday.
Those students will be put up temporarily in hotels in the area that are located on bus routes that lead to 91制片厂. Students will not move back to Spring Point Hall until the mold is completely removed, the HVAC system is repaired and independent testing ensures that it is 100 percent safe.