While vegan food, cell phone towers on Danielsen Hall and mold at 575 Commonwealth Ave. have pestered some students this year, administrators have responded to the complaints.
Since some students complained that illnesses this fall were connected to mold found at 575 Commonwealth Ave., also known as the ‘HoJo.’
Boston University has taken steps to solve those problems, according to a letter Director of Housing Marc Robillard sent to residents on Nov. 14.
‘Your health and well-being is of our utmost concern and we want to assure you that university staff is committed to addressing these issues,’ he said in the letter obtained by The Daily Free Press. ‘All reports have been investigated and corrective action has been or will be taken.’
BU has investigated all rooms in that building and cleaned the ventilation systems, according to the letter.
Housing officials have already addressed a number of problems suffered by Angie Donatoni, one student who complained of illness because of mold found in her room, said her mother, Sandy Donatoni.
‘Men in suits with notebooks in hand were crowded into Angie’s room,’ she said in an email. ‘They have agreed to shampoo her carpets, re-grout her bathroom, make a screen for her window and furnish her room a with a dehumidifier.’
Donatoni said she is quite pleased with BU’s response and confident about their commitment to fix the problems in the dormitory.
‘I do think [Robillard] is concerned and is trying to remedy the situation,’ she said.
In Robillard’s letter, he said he is committed to giving students a ‘positive living experience,’ and students experiencing illnesses should continue to visit Student Health Services.
VEGAN VARIETY
Because some vegans complained about the lack of variety in their food options, Dining Services quickly responded with new options, according to College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Alia Ghabra and Director of Dining Services Joshua Hubbard.
About two weeks ago, Hubbard contacted Ghabra via email to discuss vegan dining options on campus and decided to make changes.
‘He seemed very interested in changing things,’ she said. ‘He mentioned making Towers a more vegan-focused dining hall.’
Since that meeting, Ghabra said she has seen new items added in the dining halls, including tofu cream cheese and vegan chocolate ice cream at Warren Towers.
Dining Services has continued to develop its vegan menu and educate and train staff, Hubbard said. He said one problem involved miscommunications with vegans because they received different information and became unsure of what to believe about the food.
‘One of the frustrating things about the exchange was that we didn’t realize there were problems,’ Hubbard said. ‘There were gaps in communication.’
Hubbard said Dining Services is putting together a vegan focus group to get a cross section of vegan opinions to help evaluate and improve the vegan menus.
‘We strive for open communication,’ he said.
CALLING TOWERS
In October, a small group of students led by Tracey Mcclain, a College of Communication junior, created a petition aiming to halt the construction of cellular towers on the roof of Danielsen. She said the towers have since been completed, although she gathered ‘between 200 and 300’ signatures.
‘They’re up,’ she said. ‘I’ve been told they have not been activated yet.’
Mcclain, who has since moved out of Danielsen for a number of reasons, said in addition to presenting the petition to administrators, both she and her father sent letters requesting information on the towers.
‘The school basically told me told me [the towers] are going to go up they don’t care,’ Mcclain said, saying she was told that students were not specifically informed about the construction because it was visible from the street.
After contacting the Office of Environmental Health and Safety several times, Mcclain said they have addressed a number of her concerns. She said the office told her about 15 cellular towers on campus are part of a ‘roof-top rental program.’
‘The disturbing thing was that students were afraid to sign the petition because they were afraid of what BU would do to them,’ she said. ‘They are willing to conform to a system that gives them no voice.’
Mcclain said her new goal is to make sure students are informed about what is going on, adding that ‘BU knows they need to stop going behind students’ backs.’
‘On some angle I understand that they could lose thousands of dollars,’ she said. ‘But at the same time, why didn’t they just tell us?’
Major Construction Director David Flynn did not return repeated phone calls requesting comment for this story.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
