Spring Break
The Daily OrangeAsbestos leaks raise concern
By Matthew Nojiri
Posted: 2/20/07, 9:35 PM EST Section: News
Margaret Thompson was hardly pleased to discover an asbestos leak in the area neighboring her office in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
Thompson, an associate professor of history at Syracuse University, said the leak upset and concerned her.
"I'm a lung cancer survivor," she said. "The idea of asbestos in the vicinity wasn't really pleasing to me."
Asbestos leaked into the air in Maxwell last Friday after a ceiling on the building's third floor collapsed.
Inclement weather was to blame for the collapsed ceiling, which resulted in the leakage of the hazardous material into the air, according to Michael Wasylenko, senior associate dean of Maxwell.
"There is a suite of three teacher's offices with an outer area," Wasylenko said. "It was in the outer area where some of the plaster from the ceiling fell."
Students often sit in the outer area while waiting to meet with their professors and the area is occasionally used for meetings, Thompson said.
"It is a little bit frightening." she said. "I'm very glad that no one got hurt from the ceiling falling in; if someone had been sitting there - waiting to meet with one of us - they could have gotten really hurt."
The suite was immediately vacated and special equipment was brought in to clean up the hazardous materials, Wasylenko said.
Even though most of the damage has been repaired, Thompson said she is worried about the remaining asbestos in the building.
"I was happy to hear that they fixed it quickly," Thompson said. "But it is a little bit disturbing that there's all of this asbestos is still in the walls."
History professor Roger Sharp and assistant professor of modern East Asian history George Kallander also have offices in the suite, according to Thompson.
Additionally, this is not the first time Maxwell has encountered problems with asbestos, Wasylenko and Thompson said.
"They had supposedly cleaned up all of the asbestos several years ago," Thompson said. "But over Winter Break, they were dealing with room 108 on the first floor."
Thompson, an associate professor of history at Syracuse University, said the leak upset and concerned her.
"I'm a lung cancer survivor," she said. "The idea of asbestos in the vicinity wasn't really pleasing to me."
Asbestos leaked into the air in Maxwell last Friday after a ceiling on the building's third floor collapsed.
Inclement weather was to blame for the collapsed ceiling, which resulted in the leakage of the hazardous material into the air, according to Michael Wasylenko, senior associate dean of Maxwell.
"There is a suite of three teacher's offices with an outer area," Wasylenko said. "It was in the outer area where some of the plaster from the ceiling fell."
Students often sit in the outer area while waiting to meet with their professors and the area is occasionally used for meetings, Thompson said.
"It is a little bit frightening." she said. "I'm very glad that no one got hurt from the ceiling falling in; if someone had been sitting there - waiting to meet with one of us - they could have gotten really hurt."
The suite was immediately vacated and special equipment was brought in to clean up the hazardous materials, Wasylenko said.
Even though most of the damage has been repaired, Thompson said she is worried about the remaining asbestos in the building.
"I was happy to hear that they fixed it quickly," Thompson said. "But it is a little bit disturbing that there's all of this asbestos is still in the walls."
History professor Roger Sharp and assistant professor of modern East Asian history George Kallander also have offices in the suite, according to Thompson.
Additionally, this is not the first time Maxwell has encountered problems with asbestos, Wasylenko and Thompson said.
"They had supposedly cleaned up all of the asbestos several years ago," Thompson said. "But over Winter Break, they were dealing with room 108 on the first floor."
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Asbestos Attorney
posted 8/11/08 @ 12:43 PM EST
Where there is asbestos there should also be concerns, if you ask me I think all these asbestos problems will last for a while, there are still problematic buildings that people don't even know about, they are the real dangers. (Continued…)
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