By Andres Felix Romero

At 4 a.m. after a long night of work, Tyler Acosta was finally able to get back to his Campus Apartment dorms for some much-needed rest. 9 a.m. rolled around as knocks from the housing department woke up Acosta. Upon answering the door, Acosta was informed that due to the mold in the building, all residents would need to evacuate their rooms within four days. Acosta groggily pulled himself out of bed, shocked — but not surprised — by the news. After all, he and his roommates had been dealing with mold on a daily basis, and it had invaded their kitchen, bathroom and bodies.

Acosta headed over to the Jolly Green Giant Commons to find his new dorm placement. There, he walked into a chaotic scene. There, Campus Apartment students bustled about; most were happy to be out of the dorms. Others were upset due to needing to vacate a room where they shared a bathroom with one other person, now having to use communal bathrooms in the mostly freshman-populated Canyon Dorms. Acosta was lucky enough to be part of the group that upgraded to the more private College Creek Dorms. 

Other residents who had to evacuate included Sam Ray, a zoology freshman brand new to Humboldt from Vista, California. Ray was happy to find a dorm placement on campus that met his dietary needs to avoid sickness. The school was able to provide him with a Campus Apartment dorm with his own kitchen to avoid food allergy contact.

“I have celiac disease,” Ray said. “I can’t have gluten … or else I’ll get really sick. So [Housing] wanted me to have my own kitchen.”

Despite Ray being able to have his own kitchen for his health, he and other residents questioned if the mold contributed to negative health conditions. Ray noticed how aspects of his health improved being away from the mold, however only after Ray experienced some losses.

“I didn’t realize so much was because of the mold until now,” Ray said. “I had a couple of fish that were mysteriously dying, and we [thought] it might be the mold. Now [moved out], my eyes don’t hurt anymore. I can breathe.”

Acosta similarly noted that once he left campus apartments for just a few weeks, chronic health issues such as his eczema no longer became a daily issue.

“It’s a correspondent for my winter break,” Acosta said. “I broke out for the whole semester. I went home for winter break, and I had no eczema. It just went away.”

Acosta also recalled battling the mold daily, always needing to scrub mold in his bathroom that would always come back. He also needed to maintain a supply of towels to clean up water pooling behind the toilet that would inevitably form mold. Acosta recalled a moment when he discovered how deep the mold went under the surface when the plastic trim of his bathtub began to crack.

“I could push on [the trim], and you can just see black water coming out,” Acosta said. “The water was getting in between [the bathtub] and the wall, so [mold] just grew out of there.”

The housing department on campus held concerns for the well-being of their residents, eventually bringing in a consultant to ensure the dorms were safe to live in. This eventually led the school to begin evacuating students from the apartments on Jan 19, days before the beginning of the spring semester. 

“The consultant identified potential mold conditions, which could pose health concerns for individuals who may be sensitive to mold exposure, and collected samples,” read an email from Cal Poly Humboldt on Jan. 19. “While we wait for the sample results, the University is erring on the side of caution and acting on the consultant’s suggestion to move a group of students who live in a section of the building to a different residence hall on campus.”

The school sent a follow-up email on Jan. 25 announcing the decision to relocate the remainder of the Campus Apartment residents due to the results of the sample.

Students had to move only a few days before beginning their semester, and some felt that they were given a bad deal for having to move dorms, while others — such as Acosta — felt that the situation ended okay for them. His new dorm roommates even brought back memories of living with his family.

“I was listening to them bicker the other day,” Acosta said, “That brought me back home. I [thought], ‘Nice, I have siblings again.’”

The Campus Apartments are slated to be demolished to make way for a new parking structure and dorms. If there is anyone who may be concerned about repercussions due to mold from the Campus Apartments, they can make an appointment with the Student Health Center, TimelyCare, or another medical professional.

Andres Felix Romero is a reporter and Community Liaison for The Lumberjack. Outside of reporting, he enjoys adventures, climbing trees, and scaling rocks. He also enjoys hikes with his dog.