Jeff Davidson | Phoenix Staff

Continued flooding in Olde Club’s basement has brought damage to the floor and caused mold growth.

BY DANTE FUOCO

In print | Published October 29, 2009

Going into his senior year as Olde Club Facilities Director, Louis Jargow ’10 said that he was passionate about pushing for improvements and renovations to the social space. But before classes started this year, this goal seemed unattainable.

Over the summer, water flooded into the social space, which is customarily locked and unused over the summer. The resulting warm, damp environment brought about what he called “a massive mold infestation,” which he discovered on his return to campus in late August.

And this sort of problem is not a unique or new occurrence, he said. Jargow, who was also Olde Club’s facilities director from 2007-2008, stressed that there have been several problems for the past few years, listing flooding as the most serious.

“If there was a kind of fire inspector or a safety inspector or someone who came in, I’m sure they wouldn’t let people go into Olde Club,” he said in an Oct. 3 interview. “It’s not even a question. … [T]here are so many hazards.”

After a walk-through of student social spaces earlier this month, members from all corners of the college have agreed that Olde Club — one of two student social spaces on campus and the only one that can hold concerts — has several problems and are aiming to work this year to fix them.

And while there are smaller, more immediate repairs being made, the college is resistant to making bigger renovations because of economic constraints.

Mold and flooding

By the time that Jargow got back to campus on Aug. 24, he discovered the mold infestation in Olde Club’s basement. He said that he and Old Club Booking Director Anna Zalokostas ’10 attempted to clean the social space on Aug. 25 and 26 with no success.

“We went in, and basically couldn’t even clean that stuff because we didn’t have the right equipment,” he said. “It wasn’t safe for us to clean up. And it wasn’t safe for people to be in there.”

On Aug. 27, Jargow e-mailed Workbox and Assistant Coordinator of Student Activities Paury Flowers to inform them of the problem.

Flowers said that this summer’s mold infestation was not an anomaly for Olde Club, though.
“[The infestation] wasn’t completely surprising to me given that we’ve had problems with mold before,” Flowers said.

Jargow said that flooding has been Olde Club’s biggest problem. While in the short-term flooding can “render the basement unusable” and push a party upstairs, the bigger problem lies in what flooding has done over the long-term, he said.

As already mentioned, flooding creates a warm, damp environment for mold to develop, which is what happened earlier this year and other times in the past. But flooding and mold have, in turn, made floors begin to rot and doors begin to break down.

Olde Club’s 2008-2009 facilities director Ming Cai ’11 agreed, emphasizing that flooding was a constant issue last year.

“Every time there was a thunderstorm or heavy downpour I would think to myself … I wonder how flooded the basement in Olde Club is right now,” she said in an e-mail. “Flooding was a serious issue especially when there were several events in one weekend and not enough time for the water to drain and dry out.

“Having wet floors at parties is usually not a great idea, and the flooding definitely added to the mold problem. The kitchen walls and floor have black mold growing all over the place.”

Manager of Maintenance Bill Maguire said that there is currently a leak in the basement under the front door that has allowed for water infiltration.

In fact, Acting Dean of Students Garikai Campbell ’90 said that he and facilities heard from Zalokostas that there was some flooding this week from the rain over the weekend. Maguire said that a crew cleaned up a puddle of water in the basement on Tuesday.

Whenever there’s a big problem like mold infestation, Jargow lets both facilities and Flowers know about it, such as with the mold infestation. Flowers said that she not only responded to the problem immediately but also checked back to see everything was being taken care of.

“I’m always concerned about peoples’ safety — that’s my one issue,” she said. “In the case of the mold, they were called in to make sure that everything was being addressed, and it was safe for people to be in the space.”

Maguire said that, from the time he heard from Jargow on Aug. 27, it took about week and a half to get a contractor in there to begin fixing the problem and about a week and a half to completely resolve the issue.

After all of this, he said that the basement was “thoroughly cleaned” through actions like removing moldy furniture and setting up purifiers that cleared out mold spores.

Mold can be dangerous, and, according to Maguire, there was a lot of mold in the basement. But he added that the contractor said, “It really wasn’t that bad.”

Though the basement was eventually cleaned, Jargow said that he thought it took too long.

“It wasn’t like all the sudden everything was fixed at once,” he said. “It was more like a gradual process, and parties went on while there was still tons of mold in the basement, and it was just disgusting and unsafe.”

Though purifiers were put into place on Sept. 4, Jargow said in an e-mail yesterday that he was at a party on Sept. 5 that only used the upstairs space because of lingering issues with the mold. He added that the first event that was “‘technically’ safe” and “able to happen without a major problem” took place on Sept. 10. Even then, Workbox had other things in Olde Club to fix.

“During each of these weeks, Workbox was cleaning and in and out of Olde Club many days of the week,” he said. “I got worried many weeks that we wouldn’t be able to have parties because I thought they were in the middle of a much longer process. We worked around their work thru [sic] September.”

Bigger issues

Jargow said that though Workbox has typically been respectful and quick in responding to issues, he stressed that the administration has not been.

Jargow said in his interview on Oct. 3 that when he’s talked to Flowers and Assistant Director for Student Life Kelly Wilcox ’97, they have said that “there’s nothing they can see the administration doing this year with mold or renovation.”

Considering that Olde Club is a student-run social space, Jargow said that the deans have often directed him to the Student Budget Committee, which, he said, has been sympathetic. He added, however, that SBC in the past has directed him to Student Council, which then has just directed him back to the administration.

“Everyone’s been pointing to the next guy,” he said. “No one wants to take responsibility or, especially, no one wants to cough up money for real progress. … We’re kind of stuck in this limbo of bureaucratic nightmare. It’s really annoying, it’s really frustrating.”

Last year’s facilites director Ming Cai ’11 agreed.

She said in an e-mail that workbox, which she “ended up calling … at least once a week,” was easy to deal with and resposive to smaller issues, like fixing “the toilet or whatever else was broken.”

“However, the larger problems with the space seem to be neglected by the administration. I understand the idea that Olde Club is a student run venue and space, but that does not mean the administration should not consider putting more money into its basic upkeep,” she said.

Jargow said that Flowers and Wilcox have often told him this year that the college has been slowed down in taking action this year because of economic constraints. Speaking from the position of being facilities director two years ago, Jargow expressed understanding of this fact but also confusion over it.

“I do understand the times are tight,” he said. “But two years ago when we weren’t in a recession I tried to do the same things. And I probably wasn’t as effective or efficient at doing this. But I also came up against a lot of walls and nothing ever got accomplished, even without the recession.”

In May 2008 — the end of the academic year in which Jargow acted as facilities director for the first time — Jargow sent a report to Flowers that included pictures of problems with explanations.

“I think the bureaucracy of Olde Club leaves something to be desired,” Jargow states at the beginning of the five-page report. “Olde Club is in a general state of disrepair. It’s an old building that needs a lot of work — some of which I think needs to happen over the summer, or as soon as possible. There are a lot of problems with the facilities that have been aggravated by use and limited maintenance this year.”

Jargow goes on to define the problems: flooding, which he said is the biggest issue; mold; clogged plumbing in the kitchen sink; dented holes in the wall; a broken keyhole on the front door; and peeling paint.

“The administration did nothing about the report or the list of complaints I had made two years ago,” Jargow said in an e-mail. “In fact many of those things, such as protecting Olde Club from flooding, are only really being considered two years later, and as far as I am concerned, the main reason why mold has gotten so bad in that space. The holes in the wall and the bathrooms are only being treated now.”

Walk-through and solutions

Despite Jargow’s frustration with the administration, on Oct. 6 a diverse group of members from the college community did a “walk-through” of Paces and Olde Club, the two student social spaces on campus.

Associate Dean for Student Life Myrt Westphal said that the walk-through was incited by concerns from both students and facilities about the state of Olde Club and Paces. It was not only to “figure out what needs to be done and who needs to do it” but also to foster communication between different members of the college, she said.

People on the walk included, among others: Jargow, Zalokostas, Flowers, Maguire, Campbell and Westphal.

“It almost was like a summit of people who care about these spaces,” Westphal said. “Everybody had a chance to hear what other peoples’ concerns were.”

Maguire agreed, adding, “Basically it has to be a cooperative effort of the administration [and] the students … to make these spaces work.”

Westphal said that the walk revealed problems in Olde Club that are preventable.

She said that leaks, for one, can be patched up to prevent flooding. Mold and mildew problems could, in turn, be stopped in the future by installing a dehumidifier over the summer. The way lights and speakers hang can be made safer, just as the upstairs banister looking down on the floor and stage can be checked for stability.

Jargow, Campbell and Westphal said that while the walk-through was happening, there was a group of people repainting some areas of Olde Club, such as the peeling wall along the stairwell.

Everyone who attended the walk-through indicated that they were pleased with how it went.

“[The walk-through] gave us an opportunity to talk about how [the college community] might do better,” Cambpell said, adding that this was what he was looking for beforehand.

Jargow agreed with Campbell. “It seemed like it was a relatively productive meeting in terms of opening everybody’s eyes on how bad it is, not just through word of mouth or e-mail descriptions,” Jargow said. “And I think that everyone was pretty upset about it.”

When asked how she reacted when seeing Olde Club, Westphal said, “I don’t know if I’d say grossed out. I would just say, ‘Wow. This is a really disappointing place for our students to have fun.’ ”

Flowers echoed Westphal after the walk-through.

“For what Olde Club is, I’m impressed how it’s holding up,” Flowers said. “There’s going to have to be something more done … to keep Olde Club standing, so to speak.”

Jargow added that one of the first actions discussed was “flood-proofing” the walls and floor of Olde Club. Jargow indicated that this was a step forward considering flooding has been his biggest concern. Both Jargow and Maguire said that Olde Club is not yet flood-proofed, though there are tentative plans to do so.

After the walk-through, Jargow said that he is now more confident that the college will make “quick fixes” by the end of the year. He said that these include things like making Olde Club flood-proofed, patching holes and painting over moldy spots.

Maguire said, however, that flood-proofing isn’t as easy as it may seem for a few reasons. The location of the basement’s leak is a problem because it is directly below the front door. He added that this year has been rainier than normal, which is problematic because the work area needs to be dry.

With all these things in mind, Maguire said the flood-proofing will undoubtedly happen by the end of the year and expressed a hope that this can be completed by the beginning of second semester.

Jargow wrote in an e-mail on Monday that Workbox has painted over peeling walls in the stairwell and basement and patched over the walls’ biggest hole. Currently, they are also fixing the clogged bathroom sink.

Nevertheless, he added, “We are still faced with a bit of mold around the basement, warped floors, ruined tiles, a broken downstairs sink, holes missing baseboard, just to name a few things.”

“I think that the administration is still slow and still very careful if not unwilling to give up a lot of money for these kinds of projects,” Jargow said in a separate interview. “I think there’s a lot of deliberation for a space that needs more immediate kind of changes.”

Jargow added that he still doesn’t think the administration is willing to make bigger fixes and renovations that would cost the college more money, such as changing the floors, creating more space, and fixing up the walls.

When asked about the plausibility of larger-scale updates to Olde Club, all three deans emphasized that the college is currently at a financially unstable place considering last year’s economic downturn.

“[Olde Club] definitely needs some TLC. It definitely, definitely needs it,” Flowers said. “I just don’t know where the funding and the person power would come for updating it in the near future. If I knew that, it probably would’ve already been done.”

Westphal said that it’s difficult, at this point in the year, to establish a definite timeline: “[There are] different time-frames and different piece because different people are in charge of different parts of it.”

Campbell added, too, that the college needs to make sure that the investments it makes will last over the long-term.

“Even if money dropped out of the sky and we were able to do something dramatic,” he said, the college needs to ask itself: “How do we maintain [it] so that we make that investment last?”

Despite these administrative concerns, Jargow said that he hopes that at some point Olde Club will get more major changes.

At the same time, he said that he just wants to see Olde Club at a better place by the end of the year, conceding that doing these small changes is “better than nothing.”

“My ultimate hope is that [they will] actually renovate, but my feeling is [the college will] do these quick fixes,” Jargow said after the walk-through. “I don’t expect anything beyond that. But I’d rather be wrong.”

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