As the University turned 102 this year, it has had a history of water leaks and subsequent damage from the buildings on campus.
These buildings are, but are not limited to: Faculty Hall, the Price Doyle Fine Arts Center, the Old Fine Arts Building and Wilson Hall.
Inspection of each building reveals they display a variety of ceiling tiles that are worn, weighed down, ruined and/or stained. Note that some of the stains consist of rust. Some tiles are also punctured with holes, broken, cracked or otherwise missing.
Faculty Hall and Price Doyle Fine Arts Center’s water damage becomes progressively apparent for every rising floor, closer to the roof. Notably, Faculty Hall exhibits a massive ceiling stain in its western staircase.
Aryn Dotson, a senior in creative writing, said most of the leaks she has seen have been in Faculty Hall where her classes are. In the three years Dotson has attended Murray State, she has never seen the leaks addressed.
“My main concern isn’t the leaks themselves, but the risk they might pose to our health,” Dotson said. “We breathe the air in these buildings every day. If the leaks are severe enough to spawn mold growth, that mold could be making us sick.”
Dotson said she would like the University to acknowledge the leaks.
Luke Medley, a junior art major, described the leaks in Price Doyle Fine Arts as extreme.
“I would walk through last semester and see it through the stairwell a lot,” he said. “At one point they did have buckets when it was severely raining.”
Since the recent repairs on the building, Medley’s day-to-day has been back to normal. However, Medley said he was concerned by sitting water he saw behind a maintenance door on the fourth floor of the building.
Medley provided video of the door, which is locked, and the room within.
Dr. Antje Gamble, associate professor, said that she and the larger Art and Design Department in Price Doyle Fine Arts are greatly concerned about what the leaks can do.
“I’m not a studio professor, but it is an issue that our department takes seriously and advocates for,” she said.
Gamble also commented on the water-full trash cans found around campus with a pipe running into them from the ceiling.
“It’s not a solution,” Gamble said. “It’s a stopgap until (Murray State) actually spends money on campus infrastructure.”
Orville Herndon, building coordinator for Wilson Hall, said the leaks generally affect the top floor as they are caused by rain. He said in the past, the ceiling tiles would soak up water and eventually collapse.
“As building coordinator, once I became aware of the third-floor water leaks issue, I began to check the problem areas after heavy rains,” Herndon said.
Herndon also said that whenever there is a leak, he contacts Facilities Management to come and fix it.
“Sometimes it takes time to find where the water is entering the building so a repair can be made,” Herndon said. “I think Facilities Management normally contacts the contractor who installed the roof to make the repairs. From what I have been told the warranty on the current roof still has several years left.”
In Wilson, an incident occurred several months ago on Jan. 23, 2024, inside the office of Melanie McCallon Seib, instructor and Student Life Dean.
“Several months ago ceiling tiles fell onto my desk, chair, and bookshelf,” McCallon said. “I was not in the office when this happened. What I understand is that SSC found it in their nightly rounds of the offices.”
Seib said that the leak had existed before the incident and that titles had already been replaced a couple of times. Facilities Management then set up a pipe running from the ceiling leading into a trash can in her office.
“Even though it is a temporary fix until the roof can be replaced, this is working so far and keeping my belongings damage-free,” Seib said.
Jason Youngblood, director of facilities management, said that he’s not aware of any major leaks his department is not trying to solve.
“There are miles of piping that carry all types of fluid through our buildings,” he said. “Many times, what appears to be leaks come from pipes that may be sweating due to temperature fluctuations.”
Youngblood said that some leaks are easy to fix, while some require planning and funds. Oftentimes, water leak repairs involve certain systems such as cooling, water supply, or heating being shut down for a period of time.
“If that cannot happen due to scheduled activities,” Youngblood said, “we may have to determine how best to contain the problem until such time that services can be stopped to make the needed repair.”
Youngblood also said leaks that go unnoticed or unaddressed for a long time can cause damage to the buildings.
