Breu on the mend

By Hannah Haney | Echo

At the start of the fall semester, Taylor celebrated the opening of the newest dorm on campus, Breuninger Hall. But as students moved in, they soon discovered that not everything was as perfect as it seemed.

"There've been a few things not working off and on, such as the washers and dryers, air conditioning, sinks, showers, lights, unsealed windows, water feature outside, etc.," said freshman and Breuninger (or Breu) resident Hannah Hartman. "I think there's technically efforts to fix the things that are broken, but often the job isn't done thoroughly or will only fix the problem for a short amount of time."

Breuninger was built in just a year, which is the cause for all of the problems, according to Ron Sutherland, vice president of business administration.

"In some cases, (in) the quickness to get to the end result, we didn't have the same amount of time to analyze everything in the full extent that we've had on other projects," Sutherland said. "In a perfect world, more time would have been great."

Sutherland explained that more time would have meant postponing the project for another year, since it doesn't make sense to open a dorm in the middle of the academic year.

"We thought for the sake of the campus that it was better to have it done and ready than to wait another year and have the same issues we were having in terms of space available for students," Sutherland said.

Many of the problems have already been addressed, according to Supervisor of Contracting and Supervising Gregg Holloway. There was a delay in addressing the faulty sinks because the parts are from Canada and took several weeks to arrive. They have finally come in and all but one unit has been installed, according to Holloway.

Many of the issues with the heating and A/C units and the washers and dryers are caused by students, Holloway stated. Students are overloading washers and dryers and trying to control the heating and A/C units more than necessary, according to Holloway.

"Those units are designed to run continually," Holloway said. "The fact is they're not quick-adjusting units. They need to be on all the time, run all the time, never be shut off, and then they will adjust accordingly and the temperature will actually stay well within those set points if students leave it alone."

Of all that has been an issue for Taylor's newest residence hall, one problem was unforseen to everyone: the repercussions of building on state-protected wetlands.

"A portion of the parking lot was actually built on an area that was deemed to be a wetland," Sutherland said.

Sutherland was quick to clarify that Breuninger itself is built on solid ground. Only a portion of the parking lot is built on wetlands, so students are completely safe.

"(Breuninger itself) is stable and there is no challenge with the building settling, barring really unusual circumstances like an earthquake," Sutherland reassured. "There is no evidence that there is any risk to the building whatsoever."

According to Sutherland, the contractor and architect were in charge of making sure that all of the permits were in place.

"They had checked one source," Sutherland said. "Turns out that source wasn't definitive-it was illustrative, not definitive. They trusted that source and it turns out that we're going to have to make remedies."

The university and the contractor for the project, Touchstone CPM, are currently communicating with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) and the Army Corps to develop a plan of action.

According to IDEM's website, the protocol for offenders is a timeframe in which cited parties have a chance to develop a proposed method for fixing the problem. Taylor is in the process of doing this, according to Sutherland. Once they submit their proposal, IDEM will have 90 days review the proposal and decide whether to accept or reject it.

Rob Reber, assistant professor of environmental science and director of laboratories, stated that wetlands have an important impact on the community.

"Taylor University sits in a very unique spot (high in elevation) in our local drainage basin," Reber said. "Our neighbors downstream can be affected both positively and negatively from what we do on our property. If we choose to protect wetlands within our borders, we will have positive effects on the quality and quantity of the runoff water that our neighbors receive."