Faucet Reports on Macdonald Campus Asbestos Situation

By Alan Kaufmann

On January 31st, 2023, an email was sent at 7 pm to the McGill community, announcing the immediate closure of the Barton, Macdonald-Stewart, and Raymond buildings on the Macdonald Campus (a little-known part of McGill with 12000 staff and students). Asbestos had been detected in some parts of the halls and rooms of the academic buildings, supposedly caused by the renovations that have been occurring since 2020, and emergency measures were being enacted. Research in affected labs had to be abandoned, and no alternatives were provided to professors for changing class arrangements. So, students returned to online classes in a Covid-like condition, hoping the optimistic timeline of “two days” would be enough to amend the problem.

However, as the situation developed, things would soon take a very dark turn…

Further investigation found more affected areas until it became evident that the problems went deeper than what had originally been disclosed. Certain phenomena were also reported, like deep guttural growls from the basement, steady streams of black liquid flowing through cracks and under doors, as well as the static image of the buildings’ outside overriding every television broadcast in a 3 km radius.

When polled, students were more concerned that midterms would continue to be held in person inside the sole academic building that was still operational. Students who experienced periodic coughing fits full of blood were mostly indifferent and attributed it as “probably another