Locks have come off of the Village Apartment windows for what a memo from the Office of Residence Life is calling a “trial period of the spring semester.”
The windows were locked as part of a series of precautions against humidity, and by relation mold, which have taken place over the past several summers.
The student response to the locked windows was an unpopular one, citing multiple reasons, including personal comfort and safety, fire being among those concerns.
But the Office of Residence Life is saying that there was a very different danger putting residents at risk: mold.
Gary Stephenson, the Residence Life Director of Housing Operations, elaborated.
“[The building inspectors] did an assessment and an evaluation of the existing HVAC equipment, and one of the things that they discovered was to put a device in that could move more air, and have the ability to dry the air. The air conditioning equipment in the [apartment] rooms weren’t equipped to do that.”
He also added, “[fire safety] was one of the things that we asked about,” said Stephenson. “Meetings were held with the fire marshals. The information that we got back was that if we wanted or needed to lock the windows to keep the building’s environment stable, than we could lock the windows. It was not in violation of any existing codes.”
But in a phone interview, the Orange town Fire Marshall Tim Smith gave a second opinion.
“I would be concerned.” he said.
“Fires happen, and they happen fast. People become very disoriented and very unfamiliar with their own surroundings because of smoke. What we think of something as simple as unlocking a window or a door becomes nearly impossible for a victim in a fire,” Marshall Smith noted. “We see it time and time again when people can’t unlock their own doors or get out of their own house…they become overwhelmed with smoke or toxic gas, and next thing you know, they’re a victim.”
Marshall Smith also added that he could not evaluate any conditions without personally reviewing the environment and that it was unlikely that the Office of Residence Life acted out of turn.
“Locked windows and doors, they have their place,” he observed.
The new HVAC, or Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning system, can maintain room climates, prevent mold growth, and is flexible enough to allow Village residents to open their windows after so long.
When asked about how they felt about the new arrangement, one resident put it simply, “this is great.”
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