DURHAM -- Students in two Duke dormitories have adjusted to life without air conditioning, but now face the prospect that the mold that caused the problem may not be cleaned up until December.
After mold was discovered in the air conditioning systems in the Mitchell and Decker towers at the Edens Quadrangle, Duke officials turned the system off for a day earlier this month so it could be cleaned.
Residents received e-mails updating them about the mold situation, said senior Fareed Qureshi. But one day without air conditioning stretched into another, then residents learned the system would stay off until Christmas break.
Duke administrators could not be reached for comment on this article. University officials previously have said the mold -- which is not the more serious black variety -- poses no serious health hazard. And they believe it's confined to the two dorms.
At least one parent isn't so sure.
Dimitria Pope of Round Rock, Texas, said she was visiting her son, Zack, a junior, on Sept. 7. She said she felt her chest tighten after being in his room for 15 minutes. When she mentioned it, her son told her about the mold, she said.
She said she then started asking the administration questions and received conflicting responses on whether a report on the situation existed. An official e-mailed her son the results of an Aug. 28 test, but Pope wanted to know more.
"If the mold isn't so bad, why not go in and clean it up now?" she asked.
She said she worries about the safety of her son and the other residents, and she feels the university's response to her has fallen short.
"Answer my questions. Respect me as a parent," she said.
She sent a letter dated Sept. 13 to Duke President Richard Brodhead detailing her concerns and dissatisfaction with administrators' response to her questions.
"It appears that these individuals whom you have selected to represent the university have lost sight of the parent's significance both as a support system for the student and for the university," she wrote.
She said she also called the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
North Carolina doesn't have regulations outlining a safe or unsafe amount of mold, said Marilyn Parker, an industrial hygiene consultant with the state Department of Health.
From the residents' perspective, Qureshi said, some steps have been taken.
"They have tried to compensate us," he said, adding that fans and window air conditioners were installed in common areas. Residents also received refunds of a few hundred dollars from Duke.
Zack Pope called the reimbursement "a step in a positive direction."
At the beginning of the situation, communication was an issue for the students, too.
Qureshi said he didn't know about the mold until the day the air conditioning was shut off.
While he didn't feel there was enough communication in the beginning, face-to-face meetings with school officials and direct answers to questions have helped.
He said he doesn't feel unsafe remaining in the dorm.
"The mold they found was not a serious health risk," he said.
Zack Pope doesn't entirely agree.
"Mold is dangerous, bottom line," Pope said.
Hearing his mother's experience and seeing some of her research, he added, made him think he should be second guessing what he's heard.
Several years ago, problems with black mold shut dorms at N.C. Central University for a year, displacing about 500 students. The cost of repairing the buildings and paying for alternative housing totaled more than $10 million.
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