By Emily Top

The weekend of Sept. 21 was the University’s Family Weekend. But instead of spending time with their families, many freshmen spent time cleaning their rooms to save their belongings from the mold infesting their dorms.

In the last few weeks, many dorms across campus have been plagued by mold. Department of Resident Life first started receiving reports the week of Sept. 16. A Sept. 19 email from Resident Life explained that heavy rainfall and higher temperatures have led to increased humidity in the halls, allowing mold to grow in the moisture.

Some of the halls have become unlivable.

Ashley Metzbower, a freshman living in Denton Hall, said that she and many of her friends have gotten sick from the mold. She described her illness as “a head cold without sniffles,” including symptoms of a sore throat and bad cough. The mold, she said, has been especially inconvenient because many students have been studying for midterms while being sick or having to move out for remediation.

Last week, remediation on Elkton Hall began. Because there are limited places to temporary move students, only two floors can be fixed at once, meaning other students must live with the mold longer.

ResLife notified students to pack up their belongings and enough clothes to last them up to one week.

As of Oct. 2, Elkton floors five through eight have been completely inspected and cleaned, but lower floors may not be relocated until the end of this week. The ResLife calendar for remediation does not have the first and second floors evacuating until around Oct. 8. According to Resident Life Spokesperson Tracy Kiras, remediation is currently on schedule.

As for the belongings left in their rooms, students have been asked by ResLife to complete a “packing inventory” of all the large items in their room. What’s left will be packed up and securely stored by a moving company.

For displaced students, ResLife has booked rooms in The Cambria, The Hotel at Maryland University, and The College Park Marriott, which ResLife states were chosen because of their proximity to campus. However, the walk can be up to 25 minutes to McKeldin Library — at least 10 minutes longer than the walk from Elkton.

While the problem has been addressed in Elkton, other students must deal with the mold afflicting their halls. There have been reports of mold in Denton Hall and in Commons 3, but Kiras said, “There are no additional plans for building-wide remediation at this time.”

Yet, Metzbower, who has friends living in both Denton and Elkton, said that Denton is no better than Elkton. In Metzbower’s room, the mold has completely covered many of her shoes. But even her situation is not the worst on her hall. Friends in the hall have found mold on their clothing, bed risers, desks, and even near their pillows.

Moving forward, Kiras said that ResLife “will be evaluating building systems to help to determine the root cause of these issues,” likely to avoid situations like this in the future.

For now, Metzbower’s hall has yet to receive remediation plans like Elkton, but she said, “I feel like I will be evacuated next.” The timeline for her and other students is unknown, so until then, they must live with the mold.

All the hotels mentioned in this story did not respond or declined to comment.