Murray State University is going to be 103 this year and not even 24 hours into its first day of classes for this academic year, Aug. 19, the buildings have started to show their usual signs of illness.
It has garnered attention from Murray State’s new president, Ron Patterson, who said they will be the focus of his leadership and tenure at the University.
“My second week on the job was a pool of funds to continue our work in terms of addressing our deterred maintenance across our campus, especially with, again, our older facilities,” Patterson said.
A leak was noticed in Wilson Hall, inside The Murray State News’ newsroom, where it dripped profusely over one of the desks before a second leak was discovered in the northeast corner of the building. The water, said to be from the earlier rain showers, poured through ceiling tiles and fluorescent lights, pooling on the desks and chairs, settling on the carpet, or running down to the first floor and threatening the equipment in the photography room.
It was captured, broadcast on Instagram and Facebook, and also reported to Murray State’s maintenance by The News.
That same day, a fan motor blew out in Wells Hall, resulting in smoke and sparks. Then, over the course of the next few days, more breaks or incidents occurred across campus.
Utilities were shut off in Hester Residential College that left residents from the third floor up without hot water; there was another water leak in the Oakley Applied Science Building; and a flood in Regents Residential College.
Murray State’s Office of Branding, Marketing and Communication said the fire in Wells was because of the fan motor’s electrical circuit being overloaded; there was a broken hot water pipe in Hester; Facilities Management believes construction in Oakley caused the leak; and the flood in Regents was due to a broken shower valve stem.
Another leak was called in on campus—except it was reported to be a gas leak.
In RH White Residential College, students were evacuated after a foul smell was noticed on the fourth, fifth and sixth floors. An anonymous residential adviser said many residents were complaining of headaches.
“Migraines,” the RA said.
The RA said all of RH White’s gas lines are in the basement of the dorm, and when several of the other RA’s went to check for what was described as “methane,” nothing of the sort was found on the eighth or second floor.
“But more than a few of the residents smelled it,” the RA said. “I’m pretty sure the fourth-floor RA smelled it.”
The fire alarm was finally pulled when one of the RA’s own portable carbon monoxide detector began beeping around 12 a.m. However, the beeping was only the detector’s low battery, and when the fire department arrived and assessed the situation for around 45 minutes to an hour, they found nothing. Murray State BMC confirms this and said no gas was detected.
The RA said the remaining smell is theorized to be coming from the toilets.
“But that’s a completely separate issue that’s not gas-related,” the RA said.
Newcomers to Murray State expressed unease for this introduction to campus.
Kyle Warren, freshman psychology major, recalled the fire drills conducted back in high school, comparing the two situations until he noticed how old the building is.
Another freshman, Pearl Cavins, social work major, said RH White is referred to as a bad dorm.
“People outside were like, ‘This just happens,’” Cavins said.
“It kind of enhanced an already existing negative stigma of the building and that reflects on the campus a little bit,” Warren said. “Kinda feels like a legend story, like one day the building is just gonna collapse.”
Elie Watson, freshman business administration major, said this is something to be mindful of.
“It may happen more often,” Watson said.
