Commuter students received an email from the Fairfield University Student Association acknowledging the water damage to the commuter lounge and promising to contact the Facilities Department regarding the outstanding safety issues. The email, sent out on Nov. 29, specifically cited replacing the molding carpet and the outlets in the lounge.

The email was the result of a resolution passed by the FUSA Senate at the Nov. 11 General Senate Meeting. The resolution was signed by FUSA President Danielle Rice ‘19 on Nov. 26.

This is the second resolution passed by the 55th FUSA Senate, which so far has passed no bills. The first resolution was passed last spring which focused on senate approval of executive branch spending. The 54th FUSA Senate passed two resolutions and no bills. The 53rd FUSA Senate passed 10 resolutions, however this signifies a move away from resolutions towards working with various faculty and administration in the senate committees.

Resolution SR55-002 was sponsored by Speaker of the Senate Noelle Guerrera ‘21 and criticizes the Facilities Department lack of urgency in fixing the commuter lounge. “… The Fairfield University Facilities Department has taken little steps to resolve this issue; this resolution will recognize the extensive water damage in the Commuter lounge,” detailed the resolution which passed with 18 votes.

This resolution passed shortly after the Facilities Department began work on repairing the green roof above the John A. Barone Campus Center. Charles Sousa, senior associate director of housing operations, said that Facilities was waiting for roof repairs to be complete before replacing the carpet which is continuing to grow mold.

Another issue identified in the resolution was the replacement of the current outlets in the commuter lounge to ground-fault circuit interrupter outlets which are designed to shut off electricity when water disrupts the current, preventing electric shock. When the commuter lounge flooded, students were concerned about being electrocuted by the standing water over outlets. There has no statement from administration on whether the outlets are being replaced.

This email from FUSA comes 65 days after the Sept. 25 flooding.

 

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