Exclusive content @
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Volume 64, Issue 3
www.southerndigest.com
What’s that smell?
Clogged sewage pipes causes flooding in Stewart Hall; Plumbling issues also reported in Hayden Hall. BY LAQUENCIA PARKER DIGEST NEWS EDITOR
Alliyah Moore/DIGEST A Southern University Janitor works tediously to remove the water that flooded Stewart Hall, on Friday, February 6, 2015.
There were only two custodians visible on the scene as about an inch of sewage water covered the first floor of Stewart Hall on Friday, February 6. Newspapers were piled in front of doors in an effort to prevent classrooms and offices from taking on any more water, and the smell of sewage emanated throughout the building. Employees attempted to work through these conditions, struggling to make their way in and out of their offices. Custodians worked through their allotted lunch breaks in order to get the situation under control, which began early Friday morning. Although there were many staff members in the building during the incident, all refrained to comment. According to Stewart Hall staff, the building has had plumbing issues for at least a week, including overflowing toilets and clogged floor drains in restrooms. Plumber and Pipefitter Master Carl Collins confirmed the existence of the piping issues in the hall. “There’s no way to pinpoint these locations,” said Collins. “There was no way it could have been prevented. This is one of those things that happens, and you deal with it then.” said Collins. The most serious of the damage caused by the flood was a ceiling tile that fell apart after taking on water.
The pieces were removed, although the hole remains. Sanitation was the main concern of the maintenance staff, and the floors have been repeatedly mopped and disinfected before students and staff returned to the building for classes on Monday morning. “There was no computer or wall damage or anything of that sort,” Collins confirmed. Although the cause is undetermined, Collins’ believes it is due to paper product blockages in the piping obstructing the water flow. This caused the water to remain stagnant in the pipes until overflowing back through toilets and floor drains. The real cause won’t be determined until Collins runs a camera through the pipe, enabling him to see the inside and the actual problem. The same issue occurred in Hayden Hall on Monday morning, but with fewer students in that hall than in Stewart, the problems remained contained inside the restrooms. Collins believes these problems can be attributed to the age of some of the buildings on Southern’s campus, and how long ago the piping systems were installed. The severity of the situation in Stewart could possibly be attributed to the influx of students in Stewart since the closing of DeBose Hall, but Collins doesn’t feel that way. Plumbers are currently working on the pipes to remedy the situations.
Bridge repairs still an issue BY LAQUENCIA PARKER DIGEST NEWS EDITOR
Continuing foundation shifts have caused the sidewalk on Roosevelt Steptoe Boulevard to collapse, leaving a gaping hole in its wake. Barriers have been placed around the hole and the vehicle traffic entrances to the street as well, permitting only pedestrian traffic on one side of the street. Students and staff alike have been inconvenienced, forced to drive through the entire campus to exit, or even make
it to the only functioning on campus cafeteria. Courtney Johnson, a junior Apparel Merchandising and Textiles Major feels as though the lack of work being done on this situation is counterproductive with the university’s ongoing campus beautification initiative. “It looks bad on our campus,” said Johnson. “If we’re going to fix problems
Alliyah Moore/DIGEST The collapsed sidewalk located on Roosevelt Steptoe Blvd., has been blocked off for see BRIDGE REPAIR page 2 longer than expected as a result of foundation shifts.
THE OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF SOUTHERN UNIVERSIT Y AND A&M COLLEGE, BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA