Potential health hazards and cramped conditions are only a few of the complaints being made about the Manhattan Beach Boulevard modules where many classes have been relocated due to renovations around campus.
“It’s like you’re in a bunker,” Lance Widman, political science instructor said of the rooms.
Currently, the Social Science Division occupies the rooms due to the construction being done on the Social Science Building.
Complaints both serious and trivial have been made by students and instructors alike, with a wide range of problems being associated with the modules.
“They’re way out of the way of my other classes for one,” Sierra Dunbar, 18, kinesiology major, said. “And then they’re just really small and cramped and there are no windows; it’s just like a box.”
The rooms, which have no windows and just one door, are barren of decoration since instructors aren’t allowed to put anything on the walls, Widman said.
“They’re having a hard time just breathing and focusing in there,” Josh Casper, ASO President, said.
Casper also said that there have been reports of mold in the modules, although no formal health complaints have been made, and Widman said he has not heard of any issues regarding it.
Thomas Brown, assistant director of Facilities Planning and Services, said that facilities has not heard of any mold complaints and that he is unaware of any real issues.
Another issue that has come up is the size of the classrooms.
“The rooms are adequate classrooms, and it’s up to the instructors to keep their classes at the class-designated size,” Brown said, adding that the designated amount of students is “about” 40 people.
Also an issue is the cooling and heating, which Widman said can go from “a room that’s basically like a sauna to a room where you think you could hang beef in it” in the space of an hour.
The issue of how long these modules will remain in use was also brought up.
“They are ‘temporary,’ but define temporary,” Casper said. “This entire campus is being renovated over the next 10 or 15 years, so how many students are going to be affected by these modules?”
Casper also said that the policy committee for ASO is getting ready to draft a resolution to be sent to the administration and the board of trustees, “strongly requesting” that the modules be removed and replaced with newer ones.
The Manhattan Beach Boulevard modules were originally brought on campus in the Summer of 2002, during the construction of the Natural Sciences Building.
“They are out of date,” Casper said. “In a perfect world, we would have enough classrooms without the modules.”
Dunbar said that the conditions inside the room do not affect her learning ability, and likewise Widman said they do not affect his teaching ability.
“I think that’s just silly,” Widman said, who indicated that the problems are not as serious as some people are making them out to be.
The Social Sciences Division, which moved into the modules at the beginning of the semester, is scheduled to move back into its renovated building in the fall of 2011, Brown said.
“I don’t want a student to come here and then leave saying they had a bad experience because of those rooms,” Casper said.
So far, no formal complaints have been brought to Facilities from either students or faculty, Brown said, adding that all the construction was for the good of the campus.
“Facilities is trying to improve the campus, that’s why we have so much construction going on. There is a little bit of disruption, there is a little bit of inconvenience, but in no way would we want the students to suffer,” he said.
“I will be drafting a letter of complaint for my personal office as president stating what I strongly believe could be done,” Casper said.
Even with claims that there is mold in the classrooms, students should not worry about any health hazards in the modules.
“If we get any formal complaint, we would try to rectify the situation as quickly as possible,” Brown said.