SPARTANBURG, SC (FOX Carolina) -
More than 200 Wofford students will spend their first few days of college living in a hotel this fall after a moisture issue was discovered in a campus residence hall.
Wofford College's director of news services Laura Corbin said 204 students, primarily freshmen, will spend hopefully less than two weeks living at the Spartanburg Marriott after a moisture issue compromised the building's ceiling coating.
Corbin said about a week ago the moisture issue was discovered, which compromised asbestos in the ceiling. She said the building was built in 1969, making asbestos not uncommon or harmful unless disturbed.
In order to contain the asbestos, remove the moisture issue and fix the ceiling's coating, crews began the abatement process on Monday, Corbin said.
Crews have been working all day and night, and the work should be completed in time for the students to move into the dorm on Friday, Sept. 7, according to Corbin.
Wofford students are scheduled to move into campus housing on Wednesday, Aug. 29, so Marsh Hall residents will move into the Marriott that day. Corbin said they are hopeful the students will move into Marsh on Sept. 7.
Classes start on Sept. 3. Corbin said students staying at the Marriott will attend freshman orientation, classes and eat in dining halls like normal. Additionally, resident life assistants and staff who reside in Marsh will also stay at the Marriott.
Corbin said students will not have access to charge things to their hotel rooms or order room service. The hotel is only a two-block walk from campus.
The moisture issue arose only recently, according to Corbin. The moisture caused some condensation and mildew, but did not create mold problem. Corbin said the moisture was discovered recently because the last time someone had entered the building, there was no problem.
She said the moisture was normal because the building's air conditioning system had been updated this summer to make it more efficient. That maintenance created more moisture, which Corbin said was not a problem, but the recent combination of rain, high humidity and the fact that the building and rooms had been closed off for awhile allowed the moisture to build-up.
While crews continue to clean up the dorm, student life will go on as normal for Marsh residents. They will sleep two to a room with their assigned roommates but will have a different view of town for a few days.
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Wofford College is located in downtown Spartanburg. (File/FOX Carolina)
