Students at Nova Southeastern University have expressed concerns about campus and the dorms during the fall semester. These concerns included protocol for potential carbon monoxide emergencies and navigating campus with disabilities.
Sam Snell, senior marine biology major, detailed an experience they had when their dorm carbon monoxide alarm went off. The student has five years’ worth of experience working with first aid CPR and a Red Cross certification.
“I had just woken up at 10 a.m. and then my fire alarm went off which was really confusing because there’s obviously no fire in the room,” said Snell. It was not the fire alarm but a carbon monoxide alarm.
“The residence halls don’t really brief you on what to do if your carbon monoxide alarm goes off,” said Snell.
Snell and their roommates went to the front desk of Mako Hall to report the incident. 15 minutes later, public safety showed up.
“If this was a real scenario, the whole building, not just my own room, would have been endangered.” said Snell.
After examining the fire alarm and the room and determining the room as safe, the Public Safety officer left. The student requested that someone come with the proper equipment for measuring carbon monoxide levels. Two men finally showed up to declare the dorm room safe.
By the time the room was cleared, it had been 30 minutes since the original alarm went off.
Victoria Myers, director of Housing, said “All of our systems are electric, I checked with our design and construction department, and I don’t think that any of our residence halls are equipped with carbon monoxide detectors. I think that was an alarm that was installed by the previous student,”
Charles Jawor, Fire & Safety manager said that there is no reason for any carbon monoxide leaks in the first place.
“All of our systems are electrical boiler style where the heat is blown by water pipes so there’s no forced air through any sort of flame,” said Jawor, adding that, “The Commons has a boiler system, the air is forced past the coils, so it’s not directly involved with any of the possibilities of carbon monoxide. Mako is an electrical based unit so there are no appliances that have any flame in them.”
In response to forming any sort of official protocol or plan that NSU administration has in place for a carbon monoxide leak, considering there are no carbon monoxide alarms, Jawor said, “Honestly, I don’t believe so. It would probably be more along just an evacuation drill-type policy.”
Seth Mangasarian, director of Physical Plant, said “I think it would fall in line with the fire alarm policy. I don’t think it would be much different,”
Another student, Chloe Rousseau, a junior communication major, sprained her foot in the fall. Rousseau had adopted a scooter to get across campus, but this had proved difficult.
“I have classes in the UC and the Parker building, and I have found that the paved walkways are loose and not level. I’ve almost fallen over because my scooter got stopped by a loose [piece of] pavement.” said Rousseau.
Mangasarian said, “All of those bricks in front of the library are all paved so if there is an uneven paver [the student] should report it at their dorm … they can also call in to the work center here if they wanted to make that report as well.”
These concerns may be shared by other students, but for these two, the feeling of being ignored and forgotten is very real.
