Asbestos Found in Sykes Rooms
Over winter break, renovations started on a quad and triple in the 1400s of Sykes Residence to create a new laundry room for students. During the renovation process, asbestos was discovered in 575 square feet of flooring tiles in the rooms. As a result, the rooms were sealed with tubes hung along the ceiling to ventilate them. Additionally, per New York State Department of Labor requirements, warning signs were hung outside of the rooms.
While the removal of asbestos was completed before most students moved in, some, like Carly Zack ’27, who moved in early for sports, were greeted by caution tape and warning signs. “I was scared, and I didn’t know what was going on,” said Zack. “It felt like a horror movie.” Despite the asbestos removal happening while some students moved in early, these students were not notified.
“I only found out about the asbestos because I came back early for preseason and saw all of the signs, random pipes and caution tape,” said Quinn Sirgany ’27, Zack’s roommate. They both live nearby in the 2400 wing of Sykes and felt the lack of communication from St. Lawrence University about the situation only raised their worry. “It would have been nice to know a little more about it to feel like I should be living here and that my health is not at risk,” said Sirgany.
“I was honestly very concerned when I came back to school after break and saw huge caution signs and tape saying can cause cancer,” continued Sirgany. According to her, the work was finished, and all the signs were taken down prior to the rest of the student body moving in. While she appreciates work being done over breaks, it only minimally assuaged her concern. “I feel that if work is being done in such close proximity to my room, I would want to know about it,” said Sirgany.
However, not everyone has had a negative experience dealing with asbestos on campus. Associate Professor Sara Ashpole’s experience dealing with asbestos on campus was very smooth. “In my case, the asbestos was in the floor tiles that were coming loose in the back room [of my lab].” She felt that SLU handled the situation well and is happy about the decision-making regarding the risk of asbestos exposure, saying, “it seems the university is using a decision model to determine risk.”
The issue of asbestos on campus will not go away any time soon. The Environmental Protection Agency only banned the use of asbestos in buildings in 1989. Since many of SLU’s buildings were built before 1989, there is potential for asbestos to be present in them. However, this does not present a significant risk to students, faculty and staff since asbestos only becomes harmful when materials containing it are disturbed and release microfibers that can be inhaled.