Joseph Lalley, senior associate vice president for IT and Administrative Services, said the building’s chiller had to be disassembled to repair a cracked tube.
If you were chilly on Wednesday because of cool outdoor temperatures, you could’ve stepped in Copeland Hall, where students have been feeling the heat for days.
The chiller in Copeland Hall, which houses the College of Business, failed last Thursday, creating a hot and uncomfortable few days for students and staff.
Joseph Lalley, senior associate vice president for IT and Administrative Services, said in an email that the building’s chiller had to be disassembled to repair a cracked tube.
“Once repairs are complete, restarting the chiller is a time consuming process especially when recovering from a tube failure,” Lalley said in an email.
Lalley said in an email at 4 p.m., Wednesday the chiller was running and slowly returning to “normal operating parameters.”
Lalley said in an email the university is asking the Board of Trustees to approve replacements of steam absorption chillers as a more permanent fix in Copeland and Ellis Hall at the board’s October meeting.
“We will make every effort to get both projects completed by April 15, 2016 (if approved),” he said in an email.
Ellis Hall experienced similar temperature issues Sept. 9 when the university canceled classes in the building due to a broken air conditioner, according to a previous Post report.
Chuck Emrick, a junior studying accounting and management information systems who has classes in Copeland, said for the last two weeks being in building has been “brutal” and “unbearable.”
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“You’ll sit in class ... and you’re just thinking about how hot it is and you’re sweating and you look down at your paper and there's drips of sweat on it,” Emrick said.
Emrick also said his accounting professor started having class in front of Alden Library to avoid the heat.
Some students had similar responses to the change in temperature.
“Just completely awful, it’s so hot,” Megan Baird, a senior studying accounting, said. “It’s miserable sitting in classes.”
Tatjana Saunders, a senior studying marketing and management information systems, said she noticed the heat in the building for about a week and a half.
“It’s definitely has been (annoying),” Saunders said. “Some of my professors have rescheduled what rooms we have classes in to try and work with it so it’s not as horrible to sit though.”
Saunders said the length of classes in Copeland were also affected.
“Some of our classes have been shorter because professors are even really warm,” she said.
Dave Ridpath, an associate professor of sports administration, said he finds the whole situation disconcerting.
“It’s been a bit of a struggle,” he said. “I’ve pulled a couple classes outside and canceled a couple classes.”
@M_PECKABLE
