Shahroze Rauf | Assistant News Editor
Featured Image: Video from Reddit shows a classroom floor littered with puddles from a ceiling leak. | Courtesy of Reddit
Last week, a video of what appeared to be a flooded class at York was uploaded to Reddit.
The video shows a leak from the ceiling, which spread across the entire room—puddles of water gathered on the floor, tables, and seats.
York University Advisor and Deputy Spokesperson Yanni Dagonas issued a statement yesterday concerning the video.
“Although the video does not identify the classroom or when this occurred, this appears to be a lecture hall in the Ross building. Custodial staff were on site within an hour of it being reported, extracting water from all the affected areas, but the classroom has now been deemed safe for occupants to return,” Dagonas says.
However, these infrastructure problems are nothing new to York students. Scott Library has also had problems with leaks, with buckets almost always on display on the main floor of the library.
“Curtis and the library have had roof leaks the past three years, and it’s never been fixed. The library has started using plants to absorb the leaks,” says history and law student Klidis Shkabari.
But the damage at York spreads throughout the campus—specifically to Stong College. A representative from the Health Graduate Students Association (HGSA), who wishes to remain anonymous, describes their concerns with the state of the Stong College building.
“This building is by no means accessible or accommodating and requires major changes. York is replacing the roof at Stong College to hopefully prevent further mold, but in terms of accessibility, we were told changes to make the space accommodating might happen in maybe 10 years,” they say.
The School of Health Policy and Management was recently asked to move from the HNES building to Stong College due to the expansion of the School of Nursing, according to the HGSA.
“Stong, however, has numerous health and safety issues, and a lower standard of accessibility compared to HNES,” they say.
A general workplace inspection report of the Stong building conducted last November listed almost 60 detected hazards in Stong. These include several water stains on ceilings, missing inspection reports for the elevators, falling ceiling tiles, broken equipment on floors, dirty gym clothes left on the premises, and suspected mold in several locations within the one building.
The report says most of these issues are to be addressed by York’s Maintenance, as well as Faculty Relations.
To combat these maintenance discrepancies, the HGSA issued a letter to the Faculty of Health, the Dean’s office, staff, and students. Aside from addressing the hazards outlined in the workplace inspection report, the letter also expressed concerns regarding Stong’s accessibility, particularly for students who use wheelchairs.
“The hallways are too narrow to be accessible by many students. Automatic doors need to be installed in all doorways, including washrooms, and pre-existing doors must be tested to ensure they work properly. The location of Stong is far from either subway station and a path will require constant maintenance in the winter in order to ensure safety and accessibility for all students,” the report says.
The HGSA, alongside the Counselling and Disability Services, hope that York is able to address these concerns accordingly to maintain the best possible learning environment for health graduate and undergraduate students.
