My name is Robert Burt, and I’m a freshman at Western Kentucky University.

We’re having a problem on campus; the residents of the Honors College dorm, Minton Hall, have been ordered to evacuate by the university due to mold found in the building. The institution is providing all displaced residents help moving into different dorms and a credit of $1,000 for next semester’s housing. While these are nice reparations, it’s not the first time something like this has happened on campus.

Three dorms have dealt with mold in the start of the semester, but the mold was found in the air conditioning unit. My room was one that was found with mold, which is quite problematic since I am highly allergic to mold. I requested that maintenance do something to help. They left a note on my door stating everything they fixed in all rooms in the building and what they planned to do.

I was still sick days later, so I decided to take a look myself and discovered there was mold covering the pipes. The only thing that had been touched was the filter. I decided I needed to move out, so I contacted the housing department, which basically told me there was nothing they could do.

I had to go through everything with my hall director, since no one with the institution would help me. On top of that, I was charged the difference for moving into a nicer dorm.

There has been some outrage about this among students, since the university seemed to only care about the moldy dorms when the Honors College students were affected.

It also seems like the institution tried to sweep the early semester mold under the rug, but I want this publicized so change can come to all dorms on campus.

Robert Burt

Louisville